Baby, I was born this way

23 September 2022

On Wednesday, the Australian Museum posted on its Facebook page that it had been 148 years since its former Curator, Gerard Krefft, was forcibly evicted from the Museum.

Having refused to leave what was the home he shared with his wife and two sons, the Sydney Morning Herald reported at the time how “two prize fighters” were employed by the Museum Trustees to break into Krefft’s quarters and evict him.

Krefft was forcibly picked up in his chair and unceremoniously dumped in Macquarie Street and, to this day, each Curator (now Director) is also transported out of the museum in the same big red leather chair on their last day.

The reason for Krefft’s eviction in 1874 was, among other things, that he was an early advocate for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Krefft regularly corresponded with Darwin on the matter and the Museum’s Trustees, many of whom were creationists, did not appreciate this.

It was just one dispute the curator had with the Trustees, another being that he objected to Australian discoveries being sent back to the British Museum, arguing that Australia was separate from the Motherland and needed to act as such. This also didn’t go down well at the time.

Krefft died a pauper several years after the eviction leaving his wife, Annie, and his sons to make do as best they could. The younger son, Hermann, was the most promising and likely to take on the science mantle, but he later died. The elder son, Gerard Rudolph, hated the animals (especially the snakes). A gentle man, he survived to an old age and was dearly loved, especially by his three grandchildren.

How do I know? One of those three grandchildren is my father. I am the great, great granddaughter of Gerard Krefft – one of his few remaining relatives. While he is quite the legend in scientific circles, he is just as much a legend in our family.

Not only was Krefft an incredible scientist who identified and named at least 30 Australian species including the Australian lungfish, but he also excavated Wellington Caves, discovering a giant kangaroo and a Diprotodon, and has quite a few species of animals named after him.

He was a prolific artist and writer publishing more than 200 scientific articles and books including The Snakes of Australia and The Mammals of Australia, and while he was quite remarkable when it came to his adventurous spirit and sense of nationalism, he was also incredibly cantankerous and difficult to deal with.

When the Museum instituted a ‘no dogs’ policy, he got himself a miniature pig that was at his heels as he walked around the museum. Which brings me to the purpose of this story.

We are at the beginning of a new era in medicine, where cell and gene therapies offer not just the chance to treat disease, but to cure disease. Gene therapies can potentially switch off, delete or replace faulty genes, while cell therapies offer the chance to ‘cure’ otherwise untreatable cancers, taking patients from their death bed to perfect life.

In other areas, determining the genomic expression of tumours is enabling more targeted and effective treatments, while we can also identify people who are more likely to succumb to cardiovascular conditions or diabetes, for example, just by looking at their genetic make-up.

It seems our genes are predictors for much of our physical life, but the story of Gerard Krefft reminds me how it is not just what we are, but also who we are that is mapped out in our genes.

From my great, great grandfather, I inherited a love of adventure and a desire to discover new terrain. We are both prolific writers and both give authority the middle finger – tell us what to do and we will find a way not to do it. We stand by our principles no matter what, even if it means dying penniless.

Hence, if our genes determine not just what we are but who we are, how will this play out in the future? If scientists can identify the genes that cause Spinal Muscular Atrophy or Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and snip them out, will people one day be able to remove the gene that makes one obstinate, or unlikely to follow the rules? Who knows. The future is not ours to see, as Doris Day once sang.

As for my story about the Kreffts, well, Gerard and Annie Krefft are said to still haunt the museum. The current CEO Kim McKay once told me if she works late, she will see Annie on the stairs waiting for her to leave. Former director Professor Mike Archer told me when he wasn’t sure what to do, he would ask himself what Krefft would do, so he felt the old man was still there to some extent, guiding his hand.

When I go to the Museum, I’m always surprised by how it feels like I’m coming home – like those old sandstone walls welcome me back. My three sons always loved the Museum so we spent many days there – it is, I tell them, our ancestral family home.

Gerard Krefft lives on not just in our history books, but also in my family’s genes and, while we may one day find a way to snip out the obstinate gene and that may make future generations of my family easier to get along with, I for one hope they never do because baby, I was born this way.

©MedNews 2022