Andreas Reischek

Andreas Reischek (15 September 1845 – 3 April 1902) was an Austrian taxidermist, naturalist, ornithologist and collector notable for his extensive natural history collecting expeditions throughout New Zealand as well as being notorious for acts of grave robbing there. He added materially to the understanding of the biology and distribution of the New Zealand avifauna.

Reischek was born in Linz, Austria. After attending school for a few years he worked as an apprentice to a baker and developed a strong interest in natural history, also becoming skilled in taxidermy. He saw war service in Tyrol in 1866 during the Third Italian War of Independence and also served as a gamekeeper and guide before working as a taxidermist in Vienna. He married Adelheid Hawlicek on 5 May 1875.

In 1877 Reischek was chosen by Ferdinand von Hochstetter to travel to New Zealand for two years to help set up displays at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, then under the directorship of Julius von Haast.

Much of Reischek’s early work in New Zealand centred on the museums in Christchurch, Auckland and Wanganui but, after his initial two-year contract was completed, he made several extended collecting expeditions over the next ten years, covering most of New Zealand and its sub-Antarctic islands, collecting biological and ethnographical specimens, including Māori skulls and mummified cadavers robbed from burial sites. On his expeditions he was constantly accompanied by his dog "Caesar", who saved his life on more than one occasion.

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