The tail, which is carried like a grey-hound’s, was almost as long as the body, and tapered gradually to the end. The chief bulk of this animal is behind; the belly being largest, and the back rising toward the posteriors. The whole body is covered with short ash-coloured hair…
Before 24th August 2015 I’m not sure I would have recognised the animal being described but a mere three days into my role at the National Maritime Museum it would be a dereliction of duty not to recognise Sydney Parkinson’s description of a kangaroo.
Hello, my name’s Lucy Yates and I’m the new Programme Manager for Travellers’ Tails. I’m only a week in and so far I have been busy getting to grips with the scope of this exciting and fascinating project.
The George Stubbs painting, The Kongouro from New Holland, is currently on display at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby, alongside our innovative digital tool, which is designed to entice visitors in to making connections between different relevant artworks and artefacts from our other three partner museum, the Grant Museum, the Hunterian Museum and the Horniman Museum.
Ros, my predecessor, put it nicely when she wrote in a previous post, ‘the blog is a place to consider what exploration meant in the Enlightenment era and what it means today’ so in my lunch hour I’ve been pondering this idea as I wander in Greenwich Park (and get lost and destroy my new desert boots) and discover the exotic planting of the Flower Garden and turn back to marvel at the views of Canary Wharf overhung with grey cloud. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into this project and hearing more ideas.