I guess you could say it is a hodge-podge, but a better way of putting it is that it is celebrating the diversity of the animal kingdom (well, the vertebrate kingdom at least). The hall is called the Evolution Gallery. The downstairs part is mainly this huge space of mammals and birds, plus a smaller area for Victorian wildlife (as in the Australian state of Victoria, not Victorian England). The upstairs area, from which you can look down into the main hall, has a nice display centred around Darwin and Wallace.
the entire historical information on the sign was that it has been at the museum since 1884.
I have just done some digging and come up with... nothing.
In a 1932 article about Javan rhinos in the Journal of Mammalogy it says "MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, National Museum of Victoria: one juvenile mounted specimen, no locality." and I think that's about as much as there is known about this specimen.
I guess you could say it is a hodge-podge, but a better way of putting it is that it is celebrating the diversity of the animal kingdom (well, the vertebrate kingdom at least). The hall is called the Evolution Gallery. The downstairs part is mainly this huge space of mammals and birds, plus a smaller area for Victorian wildlife (as in the Australian state of Victoria, not Victorian England). The upstairs area, from which you can look down into the main hall, has a nice display centred around Darwin and Wallace.
actually, correcting myself: the map for the museum labels the whole area as "Evolution Gallery" but this particular hall is called "Wild". The museum's website says:
Be surrounded by the wonderful diversity of mammals, birds and reptiles from around the world. Explore this wonderful diversity and discover which animals are thriving and which are merely surviving.
