Laughing kookaburra there. He probably obtained a preserved specimen from one of the naturalists who accompanied Captain James Cook to the east coast of Australia. Edme-Louis Daubenton and François-Nicolas Martinet included a coloured plate of the laughing kookaburra based on Sonnerat's specimen in their "Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle". The plate has the legend in French ""Martin-pecheur, de la Nouvelle Guinée"" (Kingfisher from New Guinea). In 1783, the French naturalist Johann Hermann provided a formal description of the species based the coloured plate by Daubenton and Martinet. He gave it the scientific name "Alcedo novæ Guineæ". The current genus "Dacelo" was introduced in
HMAS Kookaburra ship fell overboard and was rescued by two personnel from "Kookaburra". "Kookaburra" was decommissioned for the final time on 3 December 1958. She was marked for disposal on 24 June 1965, sold in August 1965, and scuttled in March 1970. HMAS Kookaburra HMAS "Kookaburra" (A331) was a "Net"-class boom defence vessel of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), which served during World War II. "Kookaburra" was of three ships ordered by the Royal Australian Navy for use as boom-net defence vessels. She was laid down by the Cockatoo Docks & Engineering Company at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney on 4 April