Johann Ludwig (Louis) Gerard Krefft (17 February 1830 – 18 February 1881), was an Australian artist, draughtsman, scientist, and natural historian who served as the curator of the Australian Museum for 13 years (1861–1874).According to Davidson (2017, p. 15) Krefft was "one of [the Museum's] most accomplished curators". He was one of Australia's first and most influential palaeontologists and zoologists, "some of [whose] observations on animals have not been surpassed and can no longer be equalled because of the spread of settlement (Rutledge & Whitley, 1974).Vanessa Finney (2023, p. 67) notes that Peter Menkhorst (Menkhorst, 2009, passim) "reported that of the 34 mammal taxa the [Blankowski/Krefft] expedition recorded, ten are extinct, nine no longer occur in the region, four are present but in greatly reduced numbers, seven have no change in distribution and only four have probably expanded their range".
He is also noted as an ichthyologist for his scientific description of the Queensland lungfish (now recognized as a classic example of Darwin's "living fossils");"Despite his interest in reptiles, mammals and fossils, Krefft cemented his reputation as an ichthyologist with the description in 1870 of the Queensland Lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri."(McGrouther, 2006, p. 103) and, in addition to his numerous scientific papers and his extensive series of weekly newspaper articles on natural history, his publications include The Snakes of Australia (1869), Guide to the Australian Fossil Remains in the Australian Museum (1870f), The Mammals of Australia (1871f), On Australian Entozoa (1872a), and Catalogue of the Minerals and Rocks in the Australian Museum (1873a).See list of Publications, below.
Krefft was one of the very few Australian scientists in the 1860s and 1870s to support Darwin's position on the origin of species by means of natural selection. According to Macdonald, et al. (2007), he was one of the first to warn of the devastating effects of the invasive species (sheep, cats, etc.) on native species.See for instance, Krefft's observations (1862, p. 12) within his 1862 description of the Eastern Chæropus (Chæropus occidentalis):"This singular animal which Sir Thomas Mitchell first discovered in his expedition to the Darling, June 16, 1836, is still found on the plains of the Murray; though it is exceedingly rare, and is disappearing as fast as the native population. The large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle occupying the country will soon disperse those individuals which are still to be found in the so-called settled districts, and it will become more and more difficult to procure specimens for our national collection."See also Krefft (1874). Also, along with several significant others such as Charles Darwin, during his 1836 visit to the Blue Mountains,"The number of aborigines is rapidly decreasing. In my whole ride, with the exception of some boys brought up in the houses, I saw only one other party; these were rather more numerous than the first, and not so well clothed. This decrease, no doubt, must be partly owing to the introduction of spirits, to European diseases (even the milder ones of which, as the measles, prove very destructive), and to the gradual extinction of the wild animals. It is said that numbers of their children invariably perish in very early infancy from the effects of their wandering life. As the difficulty of procuring food increases, so must their wandering habits; and hence the population, without any apparent deaths from famine, is repressed in a manner extremely sudden compared to what happens in civilized countries, where the father may add to his labour, without destroying his offspring": Charles Darwin's 16 January 1836 observations, recorded during his visit to the Blue Mountains (at Darwin (1839), pp. 519–520). Edward Wilson, the proprietor of the Melbourne Argus,Wilson did not mince his words: "This country has been shamelessly stolen from the blacks.... In less than 20 years, we have nearly swept them off the face of the earth. We have shot them down like dogs ... and consigned whole tribes to the agonies of an excruciating death. We have made them drunkards and infected them with disease, which has rotted the bones of their adults, and made few children as exist amongst them a sorrow and a torture from their very instant of birth. We have made them outcasts on their own land, and are rapidly consigning them to entire annihilation." (Wilson, 1856a; for a more-readable text see Wilson, 1856b). and George Bennett, one of the trustees of the Australian MuseumGeorge Bennett later, Secretary/Curator of the Australian Museum (1835–1841) and trustee until his resignation in 1874 in protest at the treatment of Krefft who, following his visit to the Australian Museum in 1832, observed, in relation to its current collection of native flora and fauna, that:"Native weapons, utensils, and other specimens of the arts, as existing among the Aborigines, as well as the skulls of the different tribes, and accurate drawings of their peculiar cast of features would be a valuable addition [to its collection]. At the present time [viz. 1834], such might be procured without much difficulty; but it is equally certain, as well as much to be regretted, that the tribes in the settled parts of the colony are fast decreasing, and many, if not all, will, at no distant period, be known just by name. Here, in a public museum, the remains of the arts, & c. as existing among them, may be preserved as lasting memorials of the former races inhabiting the lands, when they had ceased to exist." (Bennett, 1834, p. 69). Krefft expressed considerable concern in relation to the effects of the expanding European settlement upon the indigenous population.For instance, in 1856 (p.358) Krefft noted that "the Aboriginal population of Victoria in 1847 amounted to about 5000; in 1858, shortly after these notes had been taken, their number had been reduced to 1768, men, women, and children; and if they have decreased at the same rate to the present day there will scarcely be a thousand souls left".In 1871, as part (p. 7) of the "Dog-headed Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger" section of his Mammals of Australia, Krefft (now a museum curator) emphasized the urgency: "The products of a new country should be secured as early as possible, and every object bearing upon the manners and habits, the arts and manufactures of a primitive race, should be gathered and deposited in some public Institution before it is too late."
Family
Krefft was born on 17 February 1830 in the Duchy of Brunswick (now part of Germany), the son of William Krefft, a confectioner, and his wife Johanna (née Bischhoff).Rutledge & Whitley (1974).
Education He was educated at St Martin's College in Braunschweig (i.e., ) from 1834 to 1845. As a youth, he was interested in art, especially painting animals, and wanted to go on to a formal study of painting; however his family found employment for him at a mercantile firm in Halberstadt.Heaton (1879), p. 108.
Marriage He married Annie McPhail,"Literary Roll of Honour", The (Sydney) Sun, (21 May 1913), p. 10; "Literary Fund", The Maitland Daily Mercury, (8 January 1916), p. 2; and "Commonwealth Literary Fund", The (Adelaide) Register, (2 September 1922), p. 5. later (1893) Mrs. Robert Macintosh,"Deaths: McIntosh", The Sydney Morning Herald, (10 November 1884), p. 1. They were married in 1883; "Conjugal Felicity", The (Sydney) Globe, (10 February 1886), p. 3. on 6 February 1869. According to Nancarrow (2007, p. 5), Annie McPhail was the Australian-born daughter of Scottish bounty immigrants, who had arrived in Australia in 1837 to work for George Bowman, and she was five months pregnant at the time of her marriage to Krefft.The marriage took place at the Museum; and was witnessed by Dr. George Bennett and Dr. Rudolph Schuette (see The Late Dr. Schuette, Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser, (31 July 1886), p. 3.), the brother in law of Wilhelm Moritz Keferstein (Nancarrow, 2009, p. 148)."Before [Simon] Pittard died [in 1861], he had hinted to Krefft several times that he could do worse than take one of the two daughters of A.W. Scott as his wife. When the Scotts moved to Sydney from Ash Island, Krefft was a frequent visitor to their home, saving German stamps for their collection and obtaining work for the sisters Harriet and Helena. It was all very friendly until Krefft married Annie McPhail in 1869, when Scott became antagonistic towards him. The relationship with the Scott sisters must have improved as Krefft commissioned them to illustrate his Snakes of Australia (1869) and Mammals of Australia (1871)." (Nancarrow, 2009, p .148)
They had four children,Rudolf Gerard Krefft (1869–1951); Archibald Gustav Carl Pappee Krefft (1871–1872) (see: Deaths: Krefft, The Sydney Morning Herald, (27 January 1872), p. 9); William Albert Krefft (1873–1873) (see: Deaths: Krefft, The Sydney Morning Herald, (18 March 1873), p. 1); and Hermann Gerard Krefft (1879–1911). only two of whom survived their infancy: Rudolph Gerard Krefft (1869–1951),"Marriages: Krefft—Freeman", The Sydney Morning Herald, (11 June 1897), p. 1; and "Deaths: Krefft", The Sydney Morning Herald, (25 January 1951), p. 22."(Estate of Susanna McCrae Krefft)", Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, No. 108, (30 September 1955), p. 2919."Deaths: Krefft", The Sydney Morning Herald, (26 January 1965), p. 28. and Herman Gerard Krefft (1879–1911)."Births: Krefft", The Sydney Morning Herald, (9 October 1879), p. 9; "Deaths: Krefft", The Sydney Morning Herald, (20 October 1911), p. 8; and "Naturalist's Death", The Sydney Morning Herald, (20 October 1911), p. 12. A fifth child, an unnamed stillborn daughter, was delivered on 2 July 1874."Births: Krefft", The (Sydney) Evening News, (3 July 1874), p. 2.
German heritage As a German speaker,The Australian German-language press always referred to Krefft as "unser Landsmann, Herr Krefft", 'our compatriot, Mr. Krefft' (e.g., Süd Australische Zeitung, (Wednesday, 20 May 1868), p. 7; (Tuesday, 6 August 1872), p. 7; (Tuesday, 8 January 1878), p. 4, etc.) Krefft belonged to the largest non-English-speaking group in Australia in the 1800s;Leitner (2004), p. 181.Wehner (2017). and, as such, Krefft was one of a number of influential German-speaking scientistsSuch as, for instance, William Blandowski, Ludwig Becker, Hermann Beckler, Amalie Dietrich, Wilhelm Haacke, Diedrich Henne, Friedrich Krichauff, Johann Luehmann, Johann Menge, Carl Mücke (a.k.a. Muecke), Ludwig Preiss, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker), Moritz Richard Schomburgk, Richard Wolfgang Semon, Karl Theodor Staiger, George Ulrich, Eugene von Guérard, Robert von Lendenfeld, Ferdinand von Mueller, Georg von Neumayer, and Carl Wilhelmi. who, according to Barrett, et al. (2018, p. 2) brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also were "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia".In relation to "Australasia", another German-speaking explorer and geologist, Julius von Haast (1822–1887), was appointed as the inaugural Curator/Director of the Canterbury Museum, in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1867.
Moreover, in relation to Krefft (the scientist), and his wider disciplinary allegiances, and his limited deference to the supposed authority of the established British scientific elite, unlike the Anglo-Australian trustees of the Australian Museum and "like many [of the German] scientists working in Australia, England was never "home" for Krefft as it was for the majority of colonists" and, typically, England did not "provid[e] the sole intellectual influence for [Krefft's] investigations" (Davidson, 2017, p. 81).Finney (2023), p. 131.
"Natural history"