The Cove is a particular slice of Sydney Harbour's marine life and social history.

Manly Cove, seven miles from Sydney, a thousand miles from care' - has long been a place of romance and raucous aquatic play. Its waters and seagrass beds are also home to a rich array of seahorse species.

Through the use of specimens, illustrations, photographs and home movies the exhibition probes the history, science and poetry of place, people and marine life. Rarely viewed work by Australian Museum scientists as well as amateur film-makers and photographers reveal what is precious and seemingly forgotten about Manly Cove – both above and below the surface.

The Harbour continues to impart a sense of identity to both Aboriginal people and those who came later. Aboriginal people have been the guardians of Sydney Harbour for tens of thousands of years and, with other Australians, continue to maintain concern for its physical environment and cultural future.

Catching ... the Harbour exhibition concludes with 'The Cove': a room which combines the marine biology of the seahorse with social interpretations inspired by its associations. This room depicts the scientific description and analysis of the species and introduces past Museum staff who studied its characteristics. It illustrates the seahorse's habitat in Manly and recovers the impressions of personal experience of the location in films and photographs.

Just as the nature of experience is governed by subjectivity, systems of classification and taxonomy used in science are affected by the culture in which they develop. While it is difficult to recognise contemporary influences on our understanding of natural order, the past demonstrates our exposure to concealed beliefs and assumptions. For example, we could refer to Borges' fantastic model:

'... a certain Chinese encyclopaedia in which it is written that animals are divided into: (a) belonging to the Emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d) sucking pigs, (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h) included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j) innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush,(l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher, (n) that from a long way off look like flies. In the wonderment of this taxonomy, the thing we apprehend in one great leap ... is the limitation of our own.'*

* Borges, JL cited in Foucault, Michel 1970, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, Vintage Books, New York.

View of exhibition

View of exhibition

Seahorse species found in Sydney Harbour