This book holds tales of ambition, friendship and intrigue played out against the beautiful and confronting Australian frontier landscape. Commissioned by Governor Macquarie in the early 1800s, these cabinets of curiosities display exotic natural history including layers of jewel-bright preserved butterflies, insects and birds, seaweed specimens and shells, as well as beautifully painted panels believed to be by some of Australia's best early colonial painters. 'Rare and Curious' tells the story of the chests and reveals much about the fledgling colony, Governor Macquarie and his vision and hopes, the convict artists and craftsmen who worked on the chests and the natural landscape and natural history of colonial Australia.
