The Battle for the Museum: Frederick McCoy and the Establishment of the National Museum of Victoria at the University of Melbourne

摘要

This article describes the events leading up to the controversial re-location of Victoria's natural history collection from rooms in the Assay Office to the new museum at the University of Melbourne in 1856. It concentrates on the role played in the affair by the University's first Professor of Natural Science, Frederick McCoy, who became Director of the National Museum of Victoria in January 1858. Drawing on new evidence, it provides a more detailed account of McCoy's views on the matter than has previously been given and highlights how opposition to the relocation can be attributed, at least in part, to community concern about the inadequacies of the University, which was then in its infancy.