Person

Rohu, Ada (1848 - 1928)

Born
16 March 1848
London, United Kingdom
Died
28 July 1928
Newtown, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Taxidermist
Alternative Names
  • Coates, Ada (married name)
  • Tost, Ada Jane (Also known as)
  • Tost, Jane Catharine (maiden name)

Summary

Ada Rohu was the daughter of Jane Tost, both of them among Australia's earliest female taxidermists. With her family, Rohu migrated to Tasmania in 1856, and moved to Sydney four years later. After a brief stage career, Ada established with her mother a successful taxidermy business opposite the Australian 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.

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Details

Chronology

1856
Life event - Migrated to Tasmania with her family
1860
Life event - Moved to Sydney with her family
8 October 1868
Life event - Married John Coates, dealer in tableware (d.1872)
1878
Career event - Established with her mother "Tost and Coated (later Tost and Rohu) Berlin Wool Depot and Taxidermists", 60 William St Sydney
12 September 1878
Life event - Married Henry Stewart Boventure Rohu, upholsterer

Published resources

Resource Sections

  • 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

See also

  • 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
  • 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

Helen Cohn

Created: 31 July 2026

EOAS ID: biogs/P008115b.htm

This Edition: 2026 August - Bibliographies
Larneuk - Gariwerd calendar - Pre-spring: late July to August - season of nesting birds
Reference: https://www.bom.gov.au/resources/indigenous-weather-knowledge/indigenous-seasonal-calendars/gariwerd-calendar#bom-anchor-list__item-larneuk-season-of-nesting-birds

Publisher: Swinburne University of Technology.

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260