ABSTRACT
Denis O’Donovan, was an Irish scholar, palaeontologist, and librarian, who developed important connections with the intellectual world of Europe. The Museum was established in Melbourne in 1870 ‘as a means of public instruction’ for the people of Victoria. Initially, the Australian colonies were not encouraged to develop any industrial base, rather they were seen as a source of raw materials and agricultural products, and a market for British goods. Perfect figure-drawing, or a beautiful landscape, would be out of place on a cup or platter; delicate tints and patterns of flowers would be inappropriate on the meaner kitchen utensils; and even the bellows that enters into the drawing room becomes a monstrosity when it displays a moonlight view in Venice, or the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Freestone is unfitted for work that requires minute elaboration, and cast iron should never be made to imitate wrought-iron ornament, or stone carving.
