Wonders from down under

Abstract

Many an eighteenth century gentleman's 'cabinet of curiosities' found its way into the collections that became national museums in the following century. And some of the most curious of curiosities came from Australia. Danielle Clode's Continent of Curiosities takes a similarly eclectic approach to the current exhibits in one of Australia's oldest museums, the Museum Victoria in Melbourne, as a way of telling the story of natural history in the country. Nature asked a London-based Australian to review the book, Leadbeater's possum and all.