In the mid-19th century Australian scientists became some of the earliest adopters of photography, a revolutionary art form.

The new technology, which influenced everything from visual arts to military operations, presented opportunities for researchers across the globe.

At Sydney's Australian Museum, curator Gerard Krefft and his assistant, taxidermist Henry Barnes, began to experiment with the era-defining medium.

The Australian Museum's archivist Vanessa Finney tells RN's Late Night Live that from the late 1850s, the pair painstakingly prepared and staged specimens — everything from whales and giant sunfish, to lyre birds and giant fossils — and captured them in thousands of images.

"This collection has got everything; it's got stuffed and taxidermied animals, it's got skeletons, and it's got hundreds and hundreds of fish," she says.

The hollowed body of an Australian freshwater crocodile. ( Supplied: Australian Museum )

The exciting new tool provided Krefft and Barnes with an important new way of working.



It also helped them to introduce Australia's bizarre creatures to the world.

'It's hard to imagine the effort that went in'

The invention of photography in the early 1800s was an international sensation.

The ability to provide, for the first time, an imprint of nature and the world was seemingly miraculous.

These two handsome pelicans were collected around Sydney. ( Supplied: Australian Museum )

Gradually, Australian scientists realised its enormous potential for documenting their specimens and recording their discoveries.

Sorry, this audio has expired Hear more about early scientific photography in Australia.

At the Australian Museum, photos quickly became crucial for Krefft and Barnes to record rare animals, Finney says.

They captured dozens of animals, "mugshot style, against a white-sheet backdrop", she says.

Full of pride, Krefft would send the photographs to his scientific contacts in Europe, where the animals were often being seen for the first time.

His contacts included Charles Darwin and famed biologist Richard Owen, of the British Natural History Museum.

This regal looking cassowary was transported from Rockingham Bay in North Queensland to the museum. ( Supplied: Australian Museum )

Finney says that, through their photography, Krefft and Barnes were "spreading the knowledge of Australian science".

Their photographs disseminated to the world the image of Australia and its fauna at a time of great international enthusiasm for its unusual plants and animals, says Finney.

The negatives Krefft and Barnes created on cut sheets of handmade glass were robust, sharp and enduring.

"In these days of instant digital images, it's hard to imagine the effort that went in to creating photos during photography's first century and a half," Finney said.

"They learned as they went because of course it's a hugely complicated process ... the cameras were crude and it was a delicate chemical process.

"Each single image was precious — and painstaking to create."

The Northern Swamp Wallaby is thought to have been collected from the Burnett River in Queensland. ( Supplied: Australian Museum )

Damage caused by friendship with Darwin

Gerard Krefft had the Australian Museum's top job — museum curator — for 10 years, from 1864.

During that time he corresponded regularly with Darwin, sending him images of Australian fauna such as the lungfish, the freshwater crocodile and a new species of manta ray.

Finney says Krefft was "really strategic" with his photography, disseminating them to colleagues "he wanted to impress".

But unfortunately for Krefft, his relationship with Darwin ultimately got him into hot water.

He came head to head with the Australian Museum's conservative Christian trustees.

"Darwin's theories were too much for them, and a fracture line begins to open between Krefft and them," says Ms Finney.

Eventually, she says, the trustees "found a way to get rid of him".

Finney says they falsely accused Krefft of everything from theft of museum gold, to trading in illicit photographs.

Krefft, pictured here, managed to insert himself into some of his own images. ( Supplied: Australian Museum )

He was eventually carried out of the museum on a chair, "demoralised", says Finney — a chair which fittingly has also been archived.

Krefft died soon later, but not without leaving a significant legacy — and an archive full of photos to go with it.