Frog Tales

Ongoing popularity and sensitivity to environmental change have made frogs a well-known marker species for environmental health.

Frogs are highly vulnerable to changes in hydrology, habitat and other more subtle environmental conditions. In south-eastern Australia, climate change has compounded the effect of swamp drainage and successive damming of rivers, reducing habitat for many amphibian species.

Frederick McCoy's vivid accounts of the abundance of what he referred to as the Green Bell Frog and the Common Sand Frog are indicators of the vibrant natural environment he encountered in colonial Victoria. The locations where he originally collected frogs have been almost entirely transformed by urban expansion, exposing the profound ecological changes that have occurred in Victoria during the last 150 years.

Under McCoy's direction, Arthur Bartholomew made precise studies of several species of Victorian frogs that were brought to the laboratory at the University of Melbourne. Among the finest images in this collection of natural history illustrations, they represent many species that are now the focus of conservation groups across the state.