Wombat
Vombatus ursinus (Shaw, 1800)
Vombatidae
(Alecto Facsimile Edition - Plate 8)

BAU10

$650.00

10. Wombat. Vombatus ursinus (Shaw, 1800) [W,P&M]
337 x 510 mm
On 23 April 1802 during a visit to King Island in the Bass Strait Matthew Flinders shot two
wombats – it is probably from these specimens that Bauer made this painting. In his own words
Flinders described the shooting : “A boat was immediately hoisted out, and I landed with the
botanical gentlemen. On stepping out of the boat, I shot one of those little bear-like quadrupeds,
called Womat; and another was afterwards killed …” When the Flinder’s expedition returned to
England in 1805 a live wombat was taken back and it lived in captivity for two years with the
anatomist Sir Everard Home. It was collected on the Kent Group of islands, perhaps in 1802.
Today, the wombat of Bass Strait survives only on Flinders Island.
W&M : 316, 335; W,P&M : 72-3; Pizzey : 20; Norst : 32-3, 63.