In 2017, with the generous help from sponsors, the museum acquired the largest collection of books and maps of Lord Howe Island in the world, from Hans Reuckert now living in Vancouver.
Recently Hans came across some more boxes of items and offered to donate these to the museum. There are seven boxes in total, and it will take some time to search through them all. A few gems of interest include these three:
- a photograph of Rudolph Berger holding just one of two only skins in existence of the extinct White gallinule from the Leverian collection at the Vienna Museum in Austria.
- a rare book, Nest and Eggs of Australian Birds by A.J. Campbell.
- Phil Dignam’s copy of New South Wales Parliamentary Debates 1953 with discussions on the Lord Howe Island Act.
Hans has offered these additional items – documents and journal papers – at no charge. However, to get these to the museum for research and archive we need to pay for the freight from Canada, estimated at AUD$2,300.
