Hubert Wilkins spent over two years in northern Australia collecting natural history specimens for the British Museum. He found many species near extinction due to over-hunting and the destruction of their habitat.

In 1923 the British Museum asked Wilkins to lead an expedition to tropical Australia to collect specimens of the rarer native fauna. In total however his collections included plants, birds, insect, fish, minerals and Aboriginal artefacts, as well as mammals. The expedition lasted over 2 years and highlighted the quality of Wilkins's work.

Warmly welcomed in Brisbane in April 1923, by the end of his expedition in 1926 and the publication in 1928 of his account of it, Undiscovered Australia, he became unwelcome in his homeland. His countrymen did not want to be told how their degrading of the bush and the wholesale destruction of native animals; the farmers did not want to be told how their own practices on the land were destroying their livelihood; and the politicians and authorities did not want anyone to be told about conditions of the Aboriginal people.

Wilkins, G. H. (George Hubert), Sir, Undiscovered Australia: being an account of an expedition to tropical Australia to collect specimens of the rarer native fauna for the British Museum, 1923-1925 London: E. Benn, 1928

Nasht, Simon The last explorer: Hubert Wilkins Australia's unknown hero Sydney: Hodder Australia, 2005

Grierson, John, Sir Hubert Wilkins, enigma of exploration London: R. Hale, 1960

Thomas, Lowell, Sir Hubert Wilkins: his world of adventure; a biography New York: McGraw-Hill [1961]