The John Landy Butterfly Collection

John Landy collected butterflies for most of his lifetime, beginning as a young boy in Melbourne. Over 75 years he amassed a collection of thousands of specimens from across Australia. The collection is arranged by species and is housed in 140 bespoke wooden boxes built by John Landy himself.

Many of the specimens were collected decades ago from areas where the species no longer exist due to urbanisation and other environmental changes. The collection is therefore a record of ecological and biodiversity shifts in the Australian landscape.

The collection is now stored in the Australian Museum Entomology Collection area.

John Michael Landy was born on 12 April 1930 and has lived a rich and diverse life. He is perhaps best known for his Athletics career, as a world record holder for the mile and 1500mts and notably being the second person to run a four-minute mile. He also goes down in history for his sportsmanship in a race at the 1956 Australian National Championships. A fellow runner had fallen and John Landy ran back to offer assistance and help him back on his feet. Landy went on to win the race from the rear of the pack.

Following graduation from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science John Landy eventually worked his way up through the ranks at the ICI chemical company to become a senior manager. His collecting through this period was restricted to family holidays but his passion persisted.

John Landy was very active in civil society culminating in serving as the 26th Governor of the state of Victoria.