the Swan River and York. His arrival began a period of ornithological research that saw large number of his specimens described and depicted by the Goulds, many of which were "discovered", the field notes that accompanied these gave details of birds of the west that allowed inclusion in their ambitious publication. Meanwhile, Gould returned to Hobart, where his wife Elizabeth awaited him. They lived in style with their servants in Government House. Taking one servant with him, Gould visited New South Wales and was made welcome by his wife's family, the Coxens and other wealthy landlords. He returned to Hobart just in time for the birth of his seventh child (a son they named Franklin Tasman). Almost immediately, Gould set off again, this time for South Australia, where he met the Governor and accompanied Charles Sturt on his expedition to the Murray Scrubs. When he returned to Hobart, the Goulds travelled together to New South Wales, where Elizabeth's brothers lived. Gould collected many birds and mammals, some of which were new to science. The Goulds left for England on 9 April. When Gilbert arrived in Sydney on 30 April, he found his employer gone. To rub salt in his wound, his trunk had been ransacked and many of the possessions that Gould had promised to protect, had been stolen. Gilbert had provided Gould with thousands of specimens of every description, from quadrupeds to insects, from shells to crustacea, from plants to reptiles, but mainly and most importantly, birds and eggs. He had provided Gould with over 60 new species of birds, including the extinct paradise parrot which he first discovered in the Darling Downs in June 1844. Gilbert travelled by boat to Port Essington, north of where Darwin is today. There, he collected, among many other things, a beautiful, newly discovered finch and returned with it to Gould in England. there he found his employer mourning his wife, Elizabeth, who had died after the birth of their eighth child. She was just 37. Gould named the finch after his wife, so Elizabeth is remembered today in this gorgeous little bird, called not Elizabeth's finch, but more cryptically, the Gouldian finch. As Elizabeth was the illustrator of all the works, not her husband, Gould then needed to recruit other artists to finish the work that Elizabeth had tirelessly begun. Gilbert soon returned to Australia to collect again for Gould. He discovered