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In 1893, Knut Dahl - a young zoologist from the University of Oslo, Norway - was funded by Jørgen Young (who also sponsored explorer Roald Amundsen) to undertake a scientific expedition to South Africa and northern Australia, to collect specimens for the University’s Zoological Museum. In March 1894, accompanied by his taxidermist Ingel Olsen Holm, Dahl left Port Natal (Durban) and journeyed to Australia, sailing from Adelaide to Sydney and then on to Darwin, Northern Territory in June. From Darwin, Dahl and Holm travelled by rail to Fountain Head railway station and after acquiring horses from Glencoe Cattle Station, made their way to the (New) Uniya Mission Station on the Daly River, where they were located between July-October 1894. From there, they apparently made trips by dinghy on the river (upstream to Margaret Fall and downstream to Alligator Point) and visited Hermit Hill. Dahl then visited Mount Shoobridge (October-November), Adelaide River (December) and then travelled to the Victoria River (depot) in April 1895, returning to Glencoe and trekking to the upper headwaters of the Mary, South Alligator and Katherine Rivers (May-July) before sailing to Broome, Western Australia in October 1895, via Batavia and Singapore. They collected around Broome (Roebuck Bay: confined to Hill Station, ca.18km north of Broome, and Loomingoon Station, ca.40km ENE of Broome) and eventually departed from Australia on the Saladin in March 1896 - arriving back in Norway on 4 May (for further biographical details, see Endnote below).
Dahl’s book (1926) and his diaries (see Archives) have enabled us to reconstruct their journey across northern Australia and align the biological specimens they collected more accurately to specific locations, many of which were previously allotted a very generalised location (e.g., Daly River, Mary River, Roebuck Bay) or incorrectly assigned (e.g., Derby, Fitzroy River). Based on Dahl’s specimen collection numbers, commencing from Port Darwin (NT) on 09.06.1894 (399) to Roebuck Bay (WA) and ending on 20.02.1896 (1683), he collected 1284 biological specimens. We do not believe that we have located all the material they collected across northern Australia, although much is in the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo [NHMO (birds: 542+), (mammals: 181+)]. There are also some 327+ bird specimens in the AMNH (New York) - L.W. Rothschild Collection, which included the G.M. Mathews Collection. Robert Collett (1842-1913) was the first curator of zoology at the NHMO and was Director from 1886 until his death in 1913 [(cf. Johannessen & Lifjeld (2022)], and Mathews (1942: 53) wrote that in about 1912, “Professor Collett allowed me to acquire those [Dahl northern Australia] skins that were new to my collection” [cf. Mathews (1925: 27), also Greenway (1973: 311) and LeCroy (2013: 98)]. Dahl collected bird specimens with firearms and to a lesser extent mammals, with the knowledge and assistance of the local indigenous population (Dahl 1926). He also collected reptiles and amphibians (189+), fishes (136+), molluscs and insects, most of which are housed in various NHMO collections, and many were probably collected with the assistance of the local indigenous communities. He also attempted to acquire aboriginal skeletons, while at Adelaide River. Many of the NHMO specimens lacked dates (see below) but utilising Dahl’s collection numbers we were able to assign some of them to at least a year and in other cases, to a month. Also utilising locations (without collection numbers), we have been able to add at least the year, to specimens.
Many of Dahl’s specimens have been utilised in the annals of science and new species and subspecies have been described, including by Boulenger (1895, 1896); Collett (1895, 1897, 1898); Greenway (1973, 1978); LeCroy (2003, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017 - referencing Mathews’ many publications within); Parnaby (2009); Parnaby et al. (2017); Pethon (1969); Rendahl (1922); Rothschild (1903, 1904); Sars (1896a, 1896b); Thomas (1909, 1915, 1926); Timms (2016); and Warren (1966). His specimens have also been used in mapping the distribution of bird species in the Top End of Western Australia and Northern Territory (Storr 1967, 1980).
