GENDER, ROYALTY, AND SEXUALITY IN JOHN GOULD'SBIRDS OF AUSTRALIA

Abstract

WHEN THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTand bird illustrator John Gould launched his monumental publication onThe Birds of Australialate in 1840, the cover of the serial parts bore the image of the lyre bird (Menura superba) and a prominent dedication, “by permission,” to the young and recently-married Queen Victoria (Correspondence2: 213; see Figure 4). A few months later, issuing the part with the plate and descriptive text for the lyre bird, Gould declaredMenura superba“an emblem for Australia among its birds” (Birds of Australiavol. 3, plate 14; see Figure 5). This visual juxtaposition of Victoria and the lyre bird also reflected an association between them in Gould's mind, the lyre bird serving as emblem not only for the Australian colonies but also for their Queen. The association became more explicit and was extended to include Victoria's Consort in the decades that followed, for althoughThe Birds of Australiawas completed in 1848, Gould issued irregular supplemental installments during the 1850s and 60s and published a two-volumeHandbook to the Birds of Australiain 1865. One of the first discoveries Gould announced and figured in theSupplementwas a new species of lyre bird, which he namedMenura albertiin 1850 to acknowledge Prince Albert's “personal virtues” and “liberal support.” In 1862, in a tribute likely inspired by the recent death of the Prince, Gould dividedMenura superbainto two species and christened the newly-created oneMenura victoriae, thereby providing his grieving queen with an avian namesake to accompany Albert's.