Roshana Van der Wall’s workspace is typical of many taxidermists.<\/p>\n
There is a jar of glass eyes, a scalpel and a sharp objects bin, along with a pot of fine-tip paintbrushes on her desk.<\/p>\n
A taxidermied mynah bird perched on a teacup sits nearby too.<\/p>\n
It was a primary school museum excursion decades ago that piqued Ms Van der Wall’s interest.<\/p>\n
The experience even made her consider getting her cat taxidermied upon its death.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Decades on from her school excursion, \u00a0Ms Van der Wall’s love for this art form has not diminished in the slightest. (ABC News: Simon Amery)<\/p>\n
Years later when her cat did pass on, Ms Van der Wall did not have the resources to taxidermy her pet \u2014 so following a standard burial, she researched everything she could about the practice.<\/p>\n
Starting with a chick, Ms Van der Wall then taxidermied rats, birds and rabbits, her confidence growing with each finished piece.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The cocktaoo is mounted in a pose typical for cockatoos \u2014 perched upon a branch of Banksia that this species feeds on. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Her recent commission from Central Coast Council for their education centres was a yellow-tailed black cockatoo with the specimen provided by the council’s environmental education officers.<\/p>\n
“A lot of my colleagues get a bit of aggression online, but what we are doing is honouring the life of the animal by preserving it in the most accurate way possible,” she said.<\/p>\n
A research scientist by day, Ms Van der Wall sees taxidermy as a passion she one day wishes to pursue full-time.<\/p>\n
The beauty of a washed up leatherback turtle<\/p>\n
Katrina McCormick uses a variety of methods to prepare animals for presentation and preservation, such as using flesh-eating beetles. (ABC News: Marcus Stimson)<\/p>\n
For 20 years Katrina McCormick has been a natural science preparator\u00a0at the Australian Museum in Sydney, after starting at the organisation in a volunteering capacity.<\/p>\n
The taxidermy process typically starts with skinning an animal.<\/p>\n
For animals except birds, the skin is then tanned, meaning treated, and fitted over an artificial body, often made from carved foam or sculpted wire.<\/p>\n
Ms McCormick’s role includes creating displays in the museum, but mainly preparing skins and skeletons for the research collection.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ms McCormick is assembling the parts of the leatherback turtleahead of its display. (ABC News: Marcus Stimson)<\/p>\n
To clean the bones of some animals and birds, she uses a colony of flesh-eating beetles.<\/p>\n
“Recently there was a leatherback turtle that washed up and I prepared the skeletal material,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It was a huge effort. I was wearing waders that still are imbued with the smell of the leatherback.”<\/p>\n
The Australian Museum’s specimens come from Taronga Zoo, public donations and also national parks thanks to authorisation from relevant bodies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A large part of Ms McCormick’s role is preparing skins and skeletons for the research collection. (ABC News: Marcus Stimson)<\/p>\n
Australia’s lack of formal taxidermy education<\/p>\n
Once a syllabus offered in tertiary education, taxidermy has not been formally taught in Australia since the 1970s.<\/p>\n
Those like Ms Van der Wall who wished to learn the art form looked to mentors or small businesses both nationally or overseas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ms Van der Wall learnt the art and science of taxidermy via a group of Melbourne-based taxidermists. (ABC News: Simon Amery)<\/p>\n
“You either have to attach yourself to a taxidermist or do it yourself trial and error. I wanted to learn properly in a set environment,” she said, crediting a group of Melbourne-based taxidermists.<\/p>\n
“There’s a place for it [formal qualifications], especially in conservation degrees and museum studies.”<\/p>\n
Ms McCormick got her start after seeing an advertisement in her local newspaper in New Zealand, looking for an airbrush artist job for a taxidermist.<\/p>\n
“I referred to myself at the time as a makeup artist for dead animals,” Ms McCormick said, noting she picked up skills along the way from colleagues.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s an interesting point and that it could consolidate a lot of information and practice that goes on. But I suppose that’s what the internet is for these days,” she said of the potential for taxidermy education.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
From foxes to a Sumatran tiger and a shark, Ms McCormick has prepared a number of specimens. (ABC News: Marcus Stimson)<\/p>\n
Opportunity to ‘encounter our rare species’<\/p>\n
Despite Australia not having a formal qualification process, taxidermists are allowed to preserve Australian native specimens in NSW outlined by the Biodiversity Conservation Act (2016) under a professional taxidermy licence.<\/p>\n
A licensed taxidermist is only authorised to possess, buy, sell and trade specimens from animals they did not harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2024, a total of 10 licences authorising taxidermy were granted. There are currently 60 valid licences in NSW.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
NSW has professional taxidermy licences. (ABC News: Marcus Stimson)<\/p>\n
A NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water spokesperson said taxidermy gives people the “opportunity to encounter our rarer species”.<\/p>\n
“Taxidermy enables them to see the species, while highlighting the animal or bird’s rarity and need for conservation,” they said.<\/p>\n
“Similarly in a museum setting, the shape, fur or feathers, and different parts of an animal can be clearly seen and examined up-close without stressing or harming a live animal, helping to educate thousands of visitors a day.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There are currently 60 valid taxidermist licences in NSW. (ABC News: Simon Amery)<\/p>\n
Ms Van der Wall works with roadkill, euthanised ferals or people’s pets that have been brought to her for memorial work.<\/p>\n
“I don’t like people hiding behind the phrase ‘ethical taxidermy’. I think it can be a bit grey because ethics vary person to person,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Instead, I say I do sustainable taxidermy which means I don’t take things from their environment and nothing is killed for the work.”<\/p>\n
Ms McCormick added: “It’s a rich journey \u2014 the privilege of the proximity to extraordinary creatures is quite amazing.<\/p>\n
“It’s not the macabre pursuit it’s perceived to be.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roshana Van der Wall’s workspace is typical of many taxidermists. There is a jar of glass eyes, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,151573,22407,151567,14912,2733,151575,151574,151576,151562,128,151570,151568,83436,151563,151564,151569,151572,151571,151565,338,151566],"class_list":{"0":"post-256996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-biodiversity-conservation-act-2016","11":"tag-central-coast-council","12":"tag-katrina-mccormick","13":"tag-leatherback-turtle","14":"tag-nsw","15":"tag-nsw-taxidermy-regulations","16":"tag-nsw-taxidermy-rules","17":"tag-professional-taxidermy-licence","18":"tag-roshana-van-der-wall","19":"tag-science","20":"tag-skeletal-material","21":"tag-skinning-an-animal","22":"tag-taronga-zoo","23":"tag-taxidermists","24":"tag-taxidermy","25":"tag-taxidermy-museums","26":"tag-taxidermy-qualifications","27":"tag-taxidermy-specimens","28":"tag-the-australian-museum","29":"tag-wildlife","30":"tag-yellowtail-black-cockatoo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}