Darwin. On the hundredth anniversary of his death in November 2013 a statue of
Alfred Russel Wallace was unveiled outside the entrance to the Darwin Centre 2 by Sir
David Attenborough. Wallace is holding a butterfly net and looking upwards, and by
following his gaze the viewer will see a bronze model of a golden birdwing butterfly
some distance away on the glass façade of the building. The sculpture depicts that
defining moment when Wallace sees the magnificent golden birdwing butterfly for the
first time in the rainforest of Bacan Island, the same location where he also collected
the rare bird of paradise later named Semioptera wallacii (Wallace’s standardwing)
which he considered his and his assistant Ali’s greatest collecting achievement.
196 Where Australia Collides with Asia
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