 Book
Reviews
with Robin Osborne
Darwin's Tortoise
By Robin Stewart
Black Inc $19.95
Believed to be the oldest animal still on Earth, and a living link with Charles Darwin (one of the world's most famous men) the Galapagos giant tortoise known as Harriet has a remarkable story to tell and she has found a splendid scribe in Robin Stewart.
An astounding 175 years ago this month (she was served birthday cake at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo where she now lives) the then-five-year-old, 28cm long Harriet, believed to be a male and thus dubbed 'Harry', was abducted by Darwin and his assistant, Syms Covington - 'Mr Darwin's Shooter' in the acclaimed novel of that title by Australian author, Roger McDonald.
Fortunately for Harry/Harriet and the many Australians who would enjoy this splendid, placid creature in her various adoptive homes - Brisbane Botanic Gardens (c 1860), Fleay's Fauna Reserve (1960s-1980s) and now Australia Zoo - Covington did not take his gun to her.
Instead, following Darwin's instructions, the land dweller was captured, along with two other tortoises from different Galapagos islands, and taken back to England aboard HMS Beagle, in which Darwin had sailed whilst researching On the Origin of Species.
'Harry' and 'his' two travelling companions arrived in London in 1836 and spent six years with Darwin and his family, gaining the affections of all who visited and the sympathy of the great man who understood that the climate, and industrial London's grimy air, was not to their liking.
In 1842, 17 years before Darwin's epochal work was published, the tortoises were sent back to the Pacific, transported by Captain John Wickham - after whom Brisbane's Wickham terrace would be named - who would become the Governor of Queensland. The animals lived in the family's backyard, prompting his wife to comment that while some people keep dogs and cats, their family had Galapagos tortoises.
When Darwin died in 1882 at the age of 73, 'Harry', only discovered to be female some 90 years later, was just 52 and had more than another century of life ahead.
The oldest animal ever known, a tortoise of a different species, was collected by Captain Cook in 1777 and presented to the Tongan royal family. It died in 1966, believed to be 193, and currently holds the Guinness Book's world record.
Perhaps Harriet, whose favourite food is hibiscus flowers and who 'lives life to the full, within her environment', might fare even better.
This largish format book is a treat for readers of all ages, offering an experience of life inside the mind and shell of one of history's most endearing creatures.
- Books available at Book Warehouse, Keen Street, Lismore and at Lismore Shopping
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