Walter Marsh
@waltermarsh.bsky.social
Writing about history and culture, ‘Young Rupert: the making of the Murdoch empire’ out now in Aus/UK/US via Scribe, ‘The Butterfly Thief’ coming in 2025
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Walter Marsh
@waltermarsh.bsky.social
· Jul 4
🦋 My new book ‘The Butterfly Thief: adventure, empire, and Australia’s greatest museum heist’ is out in Australia/UK/US from October via @scribepub.bsky.social 🦋
Pre-order here: scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/the-butterfly-thief-9781761381478
Pre-order here: scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/the-butterfly-thief-9781761381478
‘They’re not wolves – they’re sheep’: the psychiatrist who spent decades meeting and studying lone-actor mass killers
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
‘They’re not wolves – they’re sheep’: the psychiatrist who spent decades meeting and studying lone-actor mass killers
Paul E Mullen has had a front-row seat to the men behind some of the worst public massacres. He says it’s possible to ‘disrupt the script’ for future violence
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:17 AM
‘They’re not wolves – they’re sheep’: the psychiatrist who spent decades meeting and studying lone-actor mass killers
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
Reposted by Walter Marsh
@waltermarsh.bsky.social true crime caper 'The Butterfly Thief' pieces together several mid-century museum thefts that shook Australia’s leading natural history institutions... My review is available at Foreword Reviews: shorturl.at/SHhnh.
November 5, 2025 at 1:31 AM
@waltermarsh.bsky.social true crime caper 'The Butterfly Thief' pieces together several mid-century museum thefts that shook Australia’s leading natural history institutions... My review is available at Foreword Reviews: shorturl.at/SHhnh.
UK PUBLICATION DAY 🇬🇧
A year ago I went to London to visit some grand, old, complicated museums, and track down some big pieces of the puzzle that become my second book #TheButterflyThief 🦋
A year later, pretty much to the day, it’s out now: scribepublications.co.uk/books/the-butterfly-thief
A year ago I went to London to visit some grand, old, complicated museums, and track down some big pieces of the puzzle that become my second book #TheButterflyThief 🦋
A year later, pretty much to the day, it’s out now: scribepublications.co.uk/books/the-butterfly-thief
November 6, 2025 at 12:35 PM
UK PUBLICATION DAY 🇬🇧
A year ago I went to London to visit some grand, old, complicated museums, and track down some big pieces of the puzzle that become my second book #TheButterflyThief 🦋
A year later, pretty much to the day, it’s out now: scribepublications.co.uk/books/the-butterfly-thief
A year ago I went to London to visit some grand, old, complicated museums, and track down some big pieces of the puzzle that become my second book #TheButterflyThief 🦋
A year later, pretty much to the day, it’s out now: scribepublications.co.uk/books/the-butterfly-thief
Reposted by Walter Marsh
📚 REVIEW: In his rollicking scientific true-crime, The Butterfly Thief, Walter Marsh delves into the dark side of museum collection histories – and one bizarre heist.
👉 theconversation.com/theft-l...
👉 theconversation.com/theft-l...
October 14, 2025 at 11:00 PM
📚 REVIEW: In his rollicking scientific true-crime, The Butterfly Thief, Walter Marsh delves into the dark side of museum collection histories – and one bizarre heist.
👉 theconversation.com/theft-l...
👉 theconversation.com/theft-l...
Reposted by Walter Marsh
“This is a horrible time to be a museum.”
Once well-funded and well-guarded, museums and galleries all over the world are faring worse than the fancy-brand jewellery shops that have no role fostering national heritage and contemporary culture. A wake-up call.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
Once well-funded and well-guarded, museums and galleries all over the world are faring worse than the fancy-brand jewellery shops that have no role fostering national heritage and contemporary culture. A wake-up call.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
‘Smash, grab, melt it down’: how material value likely motivated the Louvre heist
Experts say thieves would struggle to find a buyer if the stolen goods remained intact
www.theguardian.com
October 20, 2025 at 8:53 PM
“This is a horrible time to be a museum.”
Once well-funded and well-guarded, museums and galleries all over the world are faring worse than the fancy-brand jewellery shops that have no role fostering national heritage and contemporary culture. A wake-up call.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
Once well-funded and well-guarded, museums and galleries all over the world are faring worse than the fancy-brand jewellery shops that have no role fostering national heritage and contemporary culture. A wake-up call.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
Free lesson in museum theft management courtesy of my new book The Butterfly Thief (spoiler: they still got robbed)
October 20, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Free lesson in museum theft management courtesy of my new book The Butterfly Thief (spoiler: they still got robbed)
Reposted by Walter Marsh
Sorry but this is the funniest headline I will read all year
October 19, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Sorry but this is the funniest headline I will read all year
Reposted by Walter Marsh
Tarnanthi turns 10: how a small South Australian festival became a super-sized champion of First Nations art
Tarnanthi turns 10: how a small South Australian festival became a super-sized champion of First Nations art
This year’s edition, a statewide juggernaut spanning more than 30 exhibitions and events and a major show at the Art Gallery of South Australia, celebrates the past and present while looking to the future
Walking through the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) alongside Nici Cumpston, it’s as if the Barkandji artist and curator is surrounded by old friends.
For the past 10 years, Cumpston’s role as artistic director of Tarnanthi festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art – which this week celebrates a decade with a supersized statewide iteration spanning more than 30 exhibitions and events, including a major exhibition at AGSA – has seen her travel widely and listen deeply to bring these canvases, sculptures and video works to Kaurna country. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 17, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Tarnanthi turns 10: how a small South Australian festival became a super-sized champion of First Nations art
A group of bronze sculptures behind glass at the South Australian Museum reveals a complex story of British imperialism, a South Australian governor, and the hidden slavery connections of an Adelaide Hills dynasty.
Another extract from my new book:
www.indailysa.com.au/news/in-dept...
Another extract from my new book:
www.indailysa.com.au/news/in-dept...
‘Harvest of loot’: the colonial legacies of South Australia’s Benin Bronzes - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia
In an exclusive book extract, InReview editor Walter Marsh explores how a group of bronze sculptures behind glass at the South Australian Museum reveals a complex story of British imperialism, a South...
www.indailysa.com.au
October 14, 2025 at 2:42 AM
A group of bronze sculptures behind glass at the South Australian Museum reveals a complex story of British imperialism, a South Australian governor, and the hidden slavery connections of an Adelaide Hills dynasty.
Another extract from my new book:
www.indailysa.com.au/news/in-dept...
Another extract from my new book:
www.indailysa.com.au/news/in-dept...
Reposted by Walter Marsh
In 1947, 800 butterfly specimens were quietly stolen from Australian museums by a British socialite. Walter Marsh’s ‘The Butterfly Thief’ uncovers a story of obsession, betrayal and friendship in a story it’s surprising isn’t better known. satpa.pe/9ATiKCF
The Butterfly Thief
It was inevitable that George Lyell and Gustavus Athol Waterhouse would become friends, despite all appearances. Lyell lived in the Victorian town of Gisborne, had never got beyond high school and was a partner in a dairy machinery factory. Waterhouse had haunted the Australian Museum since attending prestigious Sydney Grammar next door and graduated with first-class honours in geology and palaeontology. There were 11 years between them.
satpa.pe
October 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
In 1947, 800 butterfly specimens were quietly stolen from Australian museums by a British socialite. Walter Marsh’s ‘The Butterfly Thief’ uncovers a story of obsession, betrayal and friendship in a story it’s surprising isn’t better known. satpa.pe/9ATiKCF
Reposted by Walter Marsh
The great butterfly heist: how a gentleman collector stole thousands of butterflies from Australian museums
The great butterfly heist: how a gentleman collector stole thousands of butterflies from Australian museums
Scientists are still unravelling the thefts of Colin Wyatt, an English adventurer, artist and naturalist who charmed the entomological community
www.theguardian.com
October 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
The great butterfly heist: how a gentleman collector stole thousands of butterflies from Australian museums
Reposted by Walter Marsh
Trent Dalton, Bri Lee and Melissa Leong’s ‘raw’ memoir: the best Australian books out in October
Trent Dalton, Bri Lee and Melissa Leong’s ‘raw’ memoir: the best Australian books out in October
Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on
*
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email
Fiction, Simon & Schuster, $34.99 Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 4, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Trent Dalton, Bri Lee and Melissa Leong’s ‘raw’ memoir: the best Australian books out in October
The fluke that exposed Australia’s greatest museum heist — extract from my new book in this weekend’s Fin Review:
www.afr.com/life-and-lux...
www.afr.com/life-and-lux...
The fluke that exposed Australia’s greatest museum heist
A chance discovery rocked the world of natural science: more than 3000 rare butterfly specimens had vanished from Australia’s most prestigious museums.
www.afr.com
October 4, 2025 at 10:07 AM
The fluke that exposed Australia’s greatest museum heist — extract from my new book in this weekend’s Fin Review:
www.afr.com/life-and-lux...
www.afr.com/life-and-lux...
My second book, The Butterfly Thief, is out today — cracking open the complicated world of natural history museums, and the gentleman collector who left them scrambling 🦋
Net it in the wild at your local bookshop or order online: scribepublications.com.au/books/the-bu...
Net it in the wild at your local bookshop or order online: scribepublications.com.au/books/the-bu...
September 30, 2025 at 4:59 AM
My second book, The Butterfly Thief, is out today — cracking open the complicated world of natural history museums, and the gentleman collector who left them scrambling 🦋
Net it in the wild at your local bookshop or order online: scribepublications.com.au/books/the-bu...
Net it in the wild at your local bookshop or order online: scribepublications.com.au/books/the-bu...
Reposted by Walter Marsh
"The real goal of arts policy shouldn’t be to keep organisations solvent; it needs to keep each artform alive for the next generation. Artistic talent doesn’t spontaneously come to fruition [...] [it] is passed down from the generation before." theguardian.com/culture/2025...
Shrinking casts, diminished reach, less ambition: the arts in Australia needs more than just tax reform | Eamon Flack
The real goal of arts policy shouldn’t be to keep organisations solvent – it needs to keep each artform alive for the next generation, writes Belvoir St theatre’s artistic director
theguardian.com
September 24, 2025 at 2:23 AM
"The real goal of arts policy shouldn’t be to keep organisations solvent; it needs to keep each artform alive for the next generation. Artistic talent doesn’t spontaneously come to fruition [...] [it] is passed down from the generation before." theguardian.com/culture/2025...
Sydney book launch, Tues September 30 @ Gleebooks, in conversation with Helen Sullivan 🦋🍷
Tickos: gleebooks.com.au/event/walter...
Tickos: gleebooks.com.au/event/walter...
Walter Marsh – The Butterfly Thief – Gleebooks.com.au
gleebooks.com.au
September 18, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Sydney book launch, Tues September 30 @ Gleebooks, in conversation with Helen Sullivan 🦋🍷
Tickos: gleebooks.com.au/event/walter...
Tickos: gleebooks.com.au/event/walter...
Reposted by Walter Marsh
Ta-Nehasi Coates is doing a lot of things with this essay, but one of the most important is fearlessly using examples of anti-trans hate to describe Charlie Kirk's politics.
The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.
The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.
Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause
By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.
www.vanityfair.com
September 16, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Ta-Nehasi Coates is doing a lot of things with this essay, but one of the most important is fearlessly using examples of anti-trans hate to describe Charlie Kirk's politics.
The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.
The contrast between his choices and those of other writers for major legacy outlets is revealing.
Reflecting on the history of @meanjin.bsky.social — back in 1949 our teenage comrade Rupert Murdoch published his own lit mag and credited Meanjin (and its founder/his Geelong Grammar teacher Clem Christensen) for making it possible. It was the first thing he ever published.
September 10, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reflecting on the history of @meanjin.bsky.social — back in 1949 our teenage comrade Rupert Murdoch published his own lit mag and credited Meanjin (and its founder/his Geelong Grammar teacher Clem Christensen) for making it possible. It was the first thing he ever published.
Reposted by Walter Marsh
Here's me in Guardian Australia on the total debacle with Meanjin.
www.theguardian.com/books/commen...
www.theguardian.com/books/commen...
The end of Meanjin after 85 years is as sad as it is infuriating | Ben Walter
MUP says it is ‘no longer viable’ to make the literary magazine – but almost none of them are financially viable. That’s not their purpose or value
www.theguardian.com
September 6, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Here's me in Guardian Australia on the total debacle with Meanjin.
www.theguardian.com/books/commen...
www.theguardian.com/books/commen...
Current MUP chair Warren Bebbinton was also Vice Chancellor at the University of Adelaide when it cut off support for Australia’s first and oldest community radio station in 2015 (Radio Adelaide was gutted and barely limps on today).
Exclusive: Australia’s second-oldest literary journal, Meanjin, is being shut down today for "financial" reasons, Crikey can reveal.
Literary journal Meanjin to close after 85 years of publishing
Meanjin, a mainstay of Australia's cultural landscape and the nation's second-oldest literary publication, is shuttering after Melbourne University Publishing decided to cease financial support.
www.crikey.com.au
September 4, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Current MUP chair Warren Bebbinton was also Vice Chancellor at the University of Adelaide when it cut off support for Australia’s first and oldest community radio station in 2015 (Radio Adelaide was gutted and barely limps on today).
“Maybe that’s what literature can do – it helps us understand, and maybe even forgive.”
Great profile of Hossein Asgari, whose debut novel was passed on by a dozen publishers, then got shortlisted for the Miles Franklin. His follow up, Desolation, is out now:
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...
Great profile of Hossein Asgari, whose debut novel was passed on by a dozen publishers, then got shortlisted for the Miles Franklin. His follow up, Desolation, is out now:
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...
‘Literature should make us question things’: Hossein Asgari grapples with memory and grief in Desolation - InReview | InDaily, Inside South Australia
After his debut novel was unexpectedly shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, Adelaide-based author Hossein Asgari’s follow-up Desolation explores how memory, grief and acts of violence shape the stories...
www.indailysa.com.au
September 1, 2025 at 4:59 AM
“Maybe that’s what literature can do – it helps us understand, and maybe even forgive.”
Great profile of Hossein Asgari, whose debut novel was passed on by a dozen publishers, then got shortlisted for the Miles Franklin. His follow up, Desolation, is out now:
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...
Great profile of Hossein Asgari, whose debut novel was passed on by a dozen publishers, then got shortlisted for the Miles Franklin. His follow up, Desolation, is out now:
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/boo...
Reposted by Walter Marsh
FWIW everyone knows how bad it is but if state and federal governments go out there saying it's a catastrophic disaster, the state will suffer economically when it still needs people to visit. SA is not a rich place and is taking a hit. We will see more of these tensions in the future, I'm sure.
"The ocean's fucked".
But "the Malinauskas government has maintained an uncomfortably close relationship to the oil and gas industry"
And fossil-fueled Albanese doesn't dare call it a "disaster".
Excellent report from @roycerk2.bsky.social . #ClimateCrisis #auspol
drilled.media/news/algal-b...
But "the Malinauskas government has maintained an uncomfortably close relationship to the oil and gas industry"
And fossil-fueled Albanese doesn't dare call it a "disaster".
Excellent report from @roycerk2.bsky.social . #ClimateCrisis #auspol
drilled.media/news/algal-b...
“There Was So Much Death.” A Toxic Algal Bloom Is Ravaging Australia’s Southern Coast—Warming Waters Are to Blame.
Three ingredients are required for an algal bloom to get going – temperature, the right conditions and food. South Australia had all the preconditions necessary, thanks to climate change.
drilled.media
August 31, 2025 at 1:02 AM
FWIW everyone knows how bad it is but if state and federal governments go out there saying it's a catastrophic disaster, the state will suffer economically when it still needs people to visit. SA is not a rich place and is taking a hit. We will see more of these tensions in the future, I'm sure.
Reposted by Walter Marsh
An aside: journalism exists in an attention economy where demand drives editorial decision making. If you find something you enjoyed, learned from and that moved you, share and share widely -- even four days late. I, and others, don't get to keep doing this stuff if no one reads it.
This piece is so good that I feel weird and kind of gross for both discovering it four days after the fact and sharing it after midnight.
But anyway this is an exceptionally affecting piece of writing and @roycerk2.bsky.social is a very good journalist.
But you all already knew that. Didn't you?
But anyway this is an exceptionally affecting piece of writing and @roycerk2.bsky.social is a very good journalist.
But you all already knew that. Didn't you?
“There Was So Much Death.” A Toxic Algal Bloom Is Ravaging Australia’s Southern Coast—Warming Waters Are to Blame.
Three ingredients are required for an algal bloom to get going – temperature, the right conditions and food. South Australia had all the preconditions necessary, thanks to climate change.
drilled.media
August 30, 2025 at 9:25 PM
An aside: journalism exists in an attention economy where demand drives editorial decision making. If you find something you enjoyed, learned from and that moved you, share and share widely -- even four days late. I, and others, don't get to keep doing this stuff if no one reads it.
I started out as a local music journalist and although the free market has thoroughly disabused me of that dream I’ve indulged in a little bit of music writing at supporter-driven InReview lately, and very much enjoyed it.
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/mus...
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/mus...
Adelaide duo turn James Joyce’s Ulysses into 18-hour jazz odyssey - InReview | InDaily, Inside South Australia
It’s unusual for a debut release to consist of 18 discs of improvised sax-and-piano jazz inspired by a 105-year-old book. For Derek Pascoe and Chris Martin, Here Comes Everything is a fitting rebuke t...
www.indailysa.com.au
August 30, 2025 at 7:36 AM
I started out as a local music journalist and although the free market has thoroughly disabused me of that dream I’ve indulged in a little bit of music writing at supporter-driven InReview lately, and very much enjoyed it.
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/mus...
www.indailysa.com.au/inreview/mus...
Another book week passes and it seems not a single parent has dressed their child up as a young Rupert Murdoch. Disappointing!
August 22, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Another book week passes and it seems not a single parent has dressed their child up as a young Rupert Murdoch. Disappointing!