Harold Hall Australian expeditions

The expeditions were organised by the Zoology Department of the British Museum of Natural History in London to expand their holdings of Australian bird specimens following the sale of both the Rothschild and Mathews collections to the United States.

[1] The series of expeditions aroused some opposition within Australia on both nationalistic and conservation grounds,[2] and formed the last systematic collecting effort of Australian birds by an overseas institution.

Routes were planned with three objectives: first to provide the British Museum (Natural History) with a representative collection of Australian birds; second, to explore some areas which were poorly known ornithologically; third, to allow the Head of the Bird Room, Mr J. D. Macdonald to visit on the first Expedition as many State Museums as possible to prepare the way for subsequent expeditions.

[11] The main objective of the expeditions – to provide a comprehensive and well-documented series of skins and anatomical specimens – was largely achieved.

Several papers on the findings were published in various journals in a series titled "Results of the Harold Hall Australian Expeditions".