Honorary Professor Penny Olsen ‘Indigenous Australians early contributions to zoology’

It is well known that indigenous Australians often acted as guides, voluntary and otherwise, to European expeditions. Much less recognised is that they also played a vital role in the scientific discovery and description of the continent’s unusual flora and fauna and understanding of its biology and ecology. As silent partners, Aboriginal people gave Europeans their first views of iconic animals such as the koala and lyrebird, and helped to unravel the mystery of the egg-laying mammals: the echidna and platypus. Well into the twentieth century, especially in northern and inland parts of the country, indigenous Australians were engaged by collectors, illustrators and others with an interest in Australia’s animals, and interviewed for their knowledge of rarities.

Dr Penny Olsen is an Honorary Professor in the Division of Ecology and Evolution at the ANU.  After a career as a field biologist and ecological consultant, she has is now mostly occupied writing books about Australian natural history and its recorders, both artistic and scientific.

In 2011 she was invested as a Member of the Order of the Australia for her ‘service to the conservation sciences through the study and documentation of Australian bird species and their history.’  Penny has written many books, her most recent being Night Parrot: Australia's Most Elusive Bird, and a book about indigenous Australians' contributions to our understanding of Australia's fauna which will be published later this year or in 2019.  Penny is currently working on a book about budgerigars