Person
Tost, Jane Catharine (1817 - 1889)
- Born
- 16 March 1817
United Kingdom - Died
- 25 April 1889
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Naturalist and Taxidermist
- Alternative Names
- Ward, Jane Catharine (maiden name)
Summary
Jane Ward (later Tost) trained as a taxidermist (bird stuffer) in London in her family's businesses of bird breeding and stuffing, and in John Gould's taxidermy business. (Ward's brother James was in partnership with Gould 1825 - 1828). She continued working with Gould in the 1840s, including on material he collected in Australia. With her family, she migrated to Tasmania 1856, surviving the wreck of their ship off the Victorian coast. In Hobart she undertook taxidermy commissions for the Royal Society of Tasmania: some of her bird specimens were exhibited on behalf of the Society at the Crystal Palace, London, in 1859. The family moved to Sydney in 1860. Both Jane and her husband Charles found employment at the Australian Museum, Jane as taxidermist and the first woman on the payroll of an Australian museum. When Charles was sacked from the Museum in 1869, wrongly accused of theft by Gerard Krefft, Jane also lost her position. In 1872, with her daughter Ada Coates (later Rohu), she opened a successful taxidermy business opposite the Museum, "Tost and Coates (later Tost and Rohu) Berlin Wool Depot and Taxidermists". They promoted the business by entering examples of their work in international exhibitions, for which they won more than 20 medals. An exhibition of their work was held at the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney, in 1996.
Details
Chronology
- 1825 - 1828
- Career event - Worked for Gould & Ward taxidermy business, Golden Square, London
- 1838
- Career event - Worked for John Gould's taxidermy business, 20 Broad St, Golden Square, London
- 1845
- Life event - Declared bankrupt
- 1850 - 1853
- Career event - Ran a taxidermy business in Nottingham, United Kingdom
- 1856
- Life event - Migrated to Tasmania with her family
- 1859
- Career event - Bird specimens prepared for the Royal Society of Tasmania exhibited at the Crystal Palace, London
- 1860
- Life event - Moved to Sydney with her family
- 1864 - 1869
- Career position - Taxidermist, Australian Museum
- 1869
- Career event - Dismissed from the Museum when husband Charles sacked
- 1878
- Career event - Established Tost and Coates (later Tost and Rohu) Berlin Wool Depot and Taxidermists, 60 William St Sydney, with her daughter Ada Coates
- 2023
- Award - Inducted into the Taxidermy Hall of Fame
Related entries
Children
Published resources
Books
- Melville, Jane, For her love of birds : the extraordinary untold story of Australian naturalist and taxidermist Jane Ward Tost (Carlton, Vic.: Museums Victoria Publishing, 2026), 247 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Jackson, Christine E., 'The Ward family of taxidermists', Archives of natural history, 45 (1) (2018), 1-13, https://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2018.0478. Details
Resource Sections
- Anon, 'Jane Catharine Tost', in Taxidermy Hall of Fame, Taxidermy Hall of Fame, Southern Pines, North Carolina, 2026, https://taxidermyhalloffame.org/jane-catharine-tost/. Details
- Sear, Martha, 'Tost, Jane Catharine (c.1817-1889), and Rohu, Ada ('1848 0 1929), taxidermists and shopkeepers', in Australian dictionary of biography: supplement 1580 - 1980, with a name index to the Australian dictionary of biography to 1980, Cunneen, Christopher, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic., 2005, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tost-jane-catharine-13222. Details
Sara Maroske
Created: 31 July 2026