Morton Allport was an English-born colonial lawyer.  Both he and his wife Mary were intellectuals with a keen interest in natural history.  They were founding members of the Tasmanian Society, now the Royal Society of Tasmania.  Allport supplied a substantial number of thylacine specimens to the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique in Brussels [RIB: 31, 31B, 31C, 31D, 31E, 31F, 32] and to the Zoology Museum at Cambridge University [UMZC: A6.7/1, A6.7/2, A6.7/3, A6.7/4, A6.7/5, A6.7/6, A6.7/7, A6.7/8, A6.7/9, A6.7/12] (Source: ITSD, 5th revision, 2013).  In the published minutes of the Royal Society's meeting of the 12th March 1872, reported in The Mercury of the 15th March 1872 (p. 2), Allport read a letter acknowledging his donation to the Belgian Museum:     "Mr. M. Allport read a letter from the Secretary of the Royal Museum of Natural History of Belgium, returning thanks for our "Papers & Proceedings" and specimens of Natural History, forwarded by the Society and by Mr. Allport himself.  The Secretary referred to other Societies in Belgium which would be happy to make interchanges with us".

. Morton Allport (1830 -1878), self portrait. Source: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts.

There is some evidence to suggest that Allport donated at least one (possibly both) of the thylacine specimens to the HMS Challenger expedition.     An article in the Mount Alexander Mail (Victoria) of the 29th June 1867 (p. 2) notes the capture of a thylacine and the donation of its body by Morton Allport to the Victorian Museum (Museum Victoria). . Newspaper clipping from the Mount Alexander Mail (Victoria) of the 29th June 1867 (p. 2). . Allport's specimens: .

Sir Colin MacKenzie (1877-1938):

    Sir Colin MacKenzie was a distinguished Melbourne-based orthopaedic surgeon who devoted much of his life to the study of Australian fauna.  In 1919, he formed and financed the Australian Institute of Anatomical Research and began building a collection of preserved specimens of Australian wildlife.

    This work intensified in the 1920s when the Victorian government granted him permission to establish a field research station at Healesville that enabled him to breed and collect native animals for use as anatomical specimens.  In the course of his work, MacKenzie accumulated the largest single collection of thylacine organ specimens in existence.  In 1924, MacKenzie wrote of the thylacine:
 

"Unfortunately these animals are fast disappearing, and, in less than twenty years it is computed, will, in the absence of rigid protective measures, be all extinct".     MacKenzie generously donated his entire collection of marsupial specimens, including those of the thylacine, to the Australian nation.  In 1924, the government responded by creating the National Museum of Australian Zoology to house them, appointing him as its first director.  In 1931, the museum became known as the Australian Institute of Anatomy (AIA) to coincide with the opening of its Canberra home.  The AIA closed in December 1985, and the MacKenzie collection transferred to its current home at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.  The collection comprises 45% of the total thylacine organ specimens within the 5th revision of the ITSD.     MacKenzie was actively involved with the direction of the Melbourne Zoo, and the majority of his thylacine specimens were obtained post-mortem from animals that died at the zoo.  Paddle (2012) notes:

. Sir Colin MacKenzie, 1930.  Photo: National Museum of Australia (img-ci20071823-002).

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    "The Institute of Anatomy was the repository of the bodies of the last six Melbourne Zoo thylacines on display".

    In the minutes of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria dated February 1922, it states:

    "Chief secretary wrote that facilities should be given to Dr MacKenzie that, when animals die, a phone message should be sent at once and a room set apart for post-mortem examinations, and a small tank containing some formalin be provided - may be difficult to arrange".

    In an article entitled "CANBERRA SCIENCE CENTRE - DR. MACKENZIE'S GIFT OF SPECIMENS", published in the Mercury of the 22nd June 1927 (p. 10) it states:
 

"The 'British Medical Journal' gives prominence to the visit of Dr. Colin Mackenzie in connection with the foundation of a National Museum of Zoology in Canberra.  It pays a tribute to his gifts of specimens, saying that there is nothing throughout the world comparable with that which is now being assembled in Canberra.  The Journal, in an editorial, says: 'The government is to be congratulated on its decision to establish a centre of comparative anatomy as the foundation of all medical sciences.  We hope Dr. Mackenzie's lead will encourage, wealthy Australians to endow such research work in the interests of humanity."

. The Telegraph, 21 Sept 1927 (p. 15).

    MacKenzie also purchased the body of at least one thylacine from James Harrison, the animal dealer based in Wynyard, on the northwest coast of Tasmania.  Harrison's notebook states that on the 11th May 1928, he supplied a "tiger" to Professor Colin MacKenzie for the sum of £12.  The specimen was a juvenile that had died in Harrison's care.

    MacKenzie is also known to have purchased the body of a female thylacine from the Tasmanian Museum.  The thylacine had previously been on display at the Beaumaris Zoo (Queen's Domain) until its death on the 27th March 1928.  He is also known to have directly purchased another dead thylacine for anatomical purposes from the Beaumaris Zoo in November 1929 Paddle (2012).

    The fifth revision of the ITSD (2013) states: "MacKenzie focused solely on the anatomical attributes of his specimens.  Unfortunately, this constraint reduced their value from a zoological perspective, as he failed to keep any records for the specimens, only labelling them with a brief description of the organ preserved, and the common name of the animal donor".

Jules Pierre Verreaux (1807-1873):
 

Jules Pierre Verreaux was a French ornithologist, plant collector, naturalist, and explorer.  Verreaux worked for the family business, Maison Verreaux, established in 1803 by his father, Jacques Philippe Verreaux, at Place des Vosges in Paris.  The earliest known company that dealt in natural history items, it funded expeditions to various parts of the world to collect exotic specimens.     Verreaux travelled to Australia in 1842 aboard the "Le Rhin", and from December of that year until April 1844, he was based at New Norfolk in Tasmania where he devoted much of his time to studying the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus).  During his visit to Australia, Verreaux amassed a large collection of some 15,000 natural history specimens and returned with his collection to France in 1851.  Many of Verreaux's specimens are now housed within the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, including those of the thylacine [MNHN: A2620, A2621, A3298, A3299, 1883-352 & 1844-262] (Source: ITSD, 5th revision, 2013).

. Jules Pierre Verreaux, circa 1860.