THE

Lycett ALBUM

Drawings of Aborigines and Australian scenery with commentary by Jeanette Hoorn

Drawings of Aborigines and Australian scenery

with commentary by Jeanette Hoorn

National Library of Australia

T H E

Lycett ALBUM

© 1990 National Library of Australia

National l ibrary of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication

I.ycett, Joseph, ca. 1775-1828. The Lycett album: drawings of Aborigines and Australian scenery.

Bibliography. ISBN 0 642 10507 3.

I. Lycett, Joseph, ca. 1775-1828. | 2 | . Aborigines, Australian, in art. I. Hoorn, Jeanette. II. National Library of Australia. III. Title.

741.994

Edited for publication by Dana Rowan and Carol Miller

Designed by Michael Pugh

Printed by Owen King Printers Pty Ltd, Melbourne

Contents

Foreword vii

Introduction 1

The Watercolours 7

References 29

The Plates 31

Foreword

In 1972, the National Library of Australia purchased from Sotheby and Company in London an album of twenty watercolour drawings dating probably from the 1820s and attributed to the convict artist Joseph Lycett (c. 1775-1828) . The drawings, each measuring approximately 17.8 x 28 cm, depict aspects of Aboriginal life in New South Wales. The album, bound in half morocco leather and measuring 34 x 23.5 cm, appears to have been assembled at a later date. The title page carries an inscription which incorrectly identifies the contents as 'Drawings of the Natives & Scenery of Van Diemens Land 1830'. The album was offered for sale by Mrs C.E. Blake, a grand-daughter of Charles Albert La Trobe whose signature appears on the inside of the upper cover, and great-grand-daughter of Charles Joseph La Trobe, Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria 1851-54.

The sale o f this album in 1972 attracted considerable interest and publicity since the attribution of the drawings to Lycett identified a previously unrecorded body of his work, possibly intended as a sequel to his famous collection of Views in Australia or New South Wales, & Van Diemen's Land which was issued in London in 13 parts between 1824 and 1825. Lycett's reputation had been established as a landscape artist but these rediscovered drawings demonstrated his interest in depictions of the human figure. The collection has continued to stimulate scholars and historians in the years since it was acquired, both as an important documentary record of the life o f Australia's indigenous people and as an accumulation of the work of one of the country's early professional artists.

As part of its commitment to make available rare and unique materials held in the national collection and traditionally available only to scholars and researchers on visits to Canberra, the National Library is delighted to publish these historical drawings for the benefit and enjoyment of a wider community of Australians.

Warren Horton Director-General

vii

DRAWINGS OF T H E

NATIVES & SCENERY OF

VAN DIEMENS LAND 1830

The inscription (appearing inside the front cover) and the title page in Lycett's a lbum

Introduction

Joseph Lycett (c. 1775-1828) was convic ted of forgery and t ranspor ted to Australia in 1 8 1 4 . Dur ing the

per iod he spent in the co lony Lycet t r e c o r d e d many aspects of the life and landscape of Australia. The

album of wate rco lour ske tches r e p r o d u c e d he re con ta ins one of the few series of works which d o c u m e n t

the life and use of the land by Aboriginal peop le in the early co lonia l per iod . The sketches were e x e c u t e d

by the artist in the early 1820s . T h e y were c o m p i l e d into an a lbum at a later date when, it is assumed, they

were incorrec t ly en t i t led 'Drawings of the Natives & Scene ry of Van D i e m e n s Land 1 8 3 0 ' . The a lbum was

purchased in New York in 1872 by Char les Alber t L a Trobe,' whose s ignature appears inside the cover .

Al though it is no t known who inscr ibed the a lbum with its title, it is possible that it was La Trobe as the

pen and ink appea r to be very similar. W h o e v e r did provide the title may have c o n c l u d e d that the drawings

dep ic ted T a s m a n i a n subjects because of the i r compos i t iona l similarit ies with some of the engravings in

Lycet t ' s Views in Australia, the largest and best known publ ished volume of Australian views of the early

co lonia l per iod. 2 It is c lear , however, that the works in the a lbum relate to the landscape and peop le o f

New Sou th Wales. The sands tone cliffs in these drawings are not present in the coastal reg ions of T a s m a n i a

but are character is t ic features of the coastal landscape of New South Wales.

T h e drawings in the a lbum are likely to have b e e n e x e c u t e d be tween 1820 and 1822 ; at this t ime

Lycet t was working as an artist in Sydney, suppor ted by private pa t ronage and by G o v e r n o r Lach lan

Macquar ie and his wife El izabeth . In a dispatch to Whi teha l l in February 1820 , G o v e r n o r Macquar i e sent

th ree paint ings of the se t t l ement at Sydney Cove to the Colon ia l Secre tary , Lo rd Bathurst . Macquar i e ' s

c o m m u n i c a t i o n to Bathurs t reveals that at least one of these works was painted by Lycett: I have long wished to be able to Send Your Lordship a correct View of the Town of Sydney, but never could get one painted to my satisfaction or Sufficiently well executed to justify my sending it to Your Lordship.

1 Charles Albert La Trobe (1845-?) was the son of Charles Joseph L a T r o b e (1801-75) who held office as L ieutenant -Governor of the co lony of Victoria from 1851 to 1854.

2 For a comprehens ive discussion of Lycett 's Views in Australia or New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land Delineated, in Fifty Views, with Descriptive Letter Press, published in instalments between 1824 and 1825, see Jeanette Hoorn, 'Joseph Lycet t : The pastoral landscape in early colonial Australia', Art Bulletin of Victoria, no. 26, 1984 , pp. 4—13, and Clifford Craig, 'Lycett's Views in Australia' in Old Tasmanian Prints, L a u n c e s t o n , 1964, pp. 39-62.

1

But a Convict Artist, named Lysaght [sic], having lately drawn a View of Sydney on a large Scale, which I consider extremely correct and well executed, I take the liberty of forwarding it to Your Lordship by the present conveyance, together with Views of the Government House at Parramatta, and the Government Cottage at Windsor on the Right Bank of the River Hawkesbury; all which I trust will prove acceptable. 3

In 1 8 2 2 , r epor t ing on his inquiry into the co lony of New South Wales and Macquar ie ' s adminis t ra t ion of

it, T h o m a s Bigge also refers to Joseph Lycett , no t ing that h e e a r n e d a living by paint ing views of Sydney

res idences . 4

Lycett had arrived in Sydney o n the General Hewitt in February 1814 . H e had b e e n convic ted of

forgery at the Sh ropsh i r e assizes on 10 August 1811 and had b e e n s e n t e n c e d to four teen years in New

Sou th Wales . In the records of the General Hewitt, Lycett is desc r ibed as a portrai t and min ia ture pa in te r

aged thirty-eight. 5 H e was g ran ted a ticket-of-leave when he arrived in Sydney and was employed as a c le rk

in the Pol ice Depar tmen t . 6 T h i s indicates that he was l i terate and it is possible that his work involved

copying let ters and official d o c u m e n t s — t h e usual o c c u p a t i o n of the c lerk.

S o m e fifteen m o n t h s after his arrival in Sydney, Lycet t was ar res ted and cha rged with passing false

bankno te s . H e had manufac tu red the notes on a pr in t ing press and was once again convic ted of forgery.

H e was sent to the pena l se t t l emen t at Newcast le , a c o m m u n i t y of convicts who were e i the r cons ide red

too h a r d e n e d to be employed in Sydney, o r who, like himself , had c o m m i t t e d addi t ional of fences in New

Sou th Wales . Lycet t left for Newcastle on the Lady Nelson in July 1 8 1 5 . H e spent at least two years working

for the reg ional c o m m a n d a n t , Capta in James Wallis, who had b e e n posted to Newcastle following his

arrival in Sydney with the 46 th R e g i m e n t . In addi t ion Lycet t assisted with drawing up plans for the

se t t l ement ' s c h u r c h , and also d e c o r a t e d its a l tarpiece. 7

O n 8 N o v e m b e r 1817 , Lycet t was sent to Sydney o n g o v e r n m e n t business for the c o m m a n d a n t .

T h e journey inc luded a visit to Por t S t ephens , where Lycet t was wounded in a conf ron ta t ion with

Abor ig ines . It is u n c l e a r whe the r h e ever r e tu rned to Newcastle. H e does no t appea r in the annua l muster

until 1819 , when h e is listed as b e i n g in the co lony in g o v e r n m e n t service. He con t inues to appear in the

muster until 1822 , the year that he r e tu rned to Eng land .

3 Macquar ie to Bathurst , 28 February 1 8 2 0 , Sydney, Historical Records of Australia, series 1, vol. X , Sydney, 1917 , p. 291.

4 T h o m a s Bigge, Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry into the State of the Colony of New South Wales, L o n d o n , 1822 , p. 104.

5 Colonial Secretary Indents of Convict Ships, 1 8 1 1 - M a y 1 8 1 4 , C O D 140 4/4004, State Archives of New South Wales , Sydney.

6 Register of Pardons and t ickets of Leave , C O D 18 4/4427, State Archives of New South Wales, Sydney.

7 Bigge, Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry, p. 104.

2

The Lycett Album

Lycett probably pa in ted the works in the Nat ional Library 's a lbum dur ing the years h e spent

working as an artist in Sydney following his re lease from de ten t ion in Newcastle. T h o s e of his works now

in publ ic co l l ec t ions date p redominan t ly from this pe r iod . 8

O n e of the features that dist inguishes Lycet t ' s work from that of other co lonia l artists working in

Australia in the first decades of E u r o p e a n se t t l ement is his diversity of style—the result of his f requent

appropr ia t ion of e l e m e n t s from the work of other artists. If we c o m p a r e Lycet t ' s work with that of G e o r g e

Evans, the surveyor, John Lewin, the o rn i tho log ica l d raughtsman, John Heaviside Clark o r T h o m a s

Watl ing, we see that Lycet t used ideas from all of these artists in the cons t ruc t ion of his p ic tures . 9 F o r

e x a m p l e , his view of the Bathurs t Falls, Bathurst Cataract, on the River Apsley, New South Wales, an engraving

in Views in Australia, takes a g o o d deal f rom an engraving by James Taylor which was based u p o n a drawing

by G e o r g e Evans and publ i shed as Bathurst's Falls in John Oxley ' s Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior

of New South Wales, 1817-18, L o n d o n , 1820 . View of Arbuthnot's Range, a wate rco lour by Lycett in the Mitchel l

Library, Sydney, is ex t remely c lose to Arbuthnot's Range from the West, James Tay lor ' s engraving of the same

subjec t (from a drawing by G e o r g e Evans) , which was also publ i shed in Oxley ' s Journa l s . 1 0 Similarly, the

drawing on the title page of Views in Australia r e sembles John Lewin 's sketch View of the Bathurst Plains,

which he e x e c u t e d while crossing the B lue Moun ta ins in 1815 as a m e m b e r of Macquar i e ' s party.

Moreover , several flower studies by Lycet t in the co l l ec t ion of the Nat ional Library are facsimiles of flower

studies by Lewin. 1 1

Lycet t ' s use of e l e m e n t s from o t h e r artists' works may have b e e n a ref lec t ion of his lack of

originality, but was just as likely the result of his material c i r cums tances which would have prevented h im

from travelling to areas outs ide Sydney or Newcastle. H e may also have b e e n requ i red to use the work of

o t h e r artists in the course of his emp loymen t . H e is likely to have b e e n employed by the G o v e r n o r to

p r o d u c e copies of exis t ing works—or drawings based o n the field ske tches of o the r s—for the purpose of

e x p a n d i n g exis t ing records of the co lon ia l l andscape and its se t t lement . Visual records were an impor t an t

source of in format ion for co lon ia l governments , bo th for use in d o c u m e n t i n g progress and facili tating

the c i rcula t ion of in format ion within the colony, and for providing evidence of the deve lopmen t of the

co lony to the H o m e Office in L o n d o n .

8 F o r a genera l discussion of Lycett 's work, see my entry (with Elizabeth Imashev) on Lycett in Joan Kerr's f or thcoming Dictionary

of Australian Artists.

9 For a discussion o f Lycett 's use of the work of o t h e r artists, see H o o r n , 'Joseph Lycett: T h e pastoral landscape' , p. 6.

10 See Rex and T h e a Rienits, Early Artists of Australia, Melbourne , 1963 , p. 188.

11 A series o f thirteen watercolours of various Australian flowering plants painted by Lycet t c. 1 8 2 0 . Rex Nan Kivell Col lect ion, National Library o f Australia, NK 6335/A-M.

3

I n t r o d u c t i o n

The Lycett Album

Bathurst Cataract, on the River Apsley, New South Wales, engraving by Joseph Lycett in his Views in Australia, plate 25

Bathurst's Falls, engraving by James Taylor, after a drawing by George Evans in John Oxley's Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales, 1817-1818, fp.301

4

1 Introduction Lycett's practice o f taking up subject matter and compositional elements from the work of other

artists should not, therefore, be regarded as the improper use of the ideas o f others. Originality may not have been part of his brief.

When Lycett painted the works contained in the album, few artists were producing imagery of this kind. Most of the pictures of the period describe the impact of European settlement within the conventions of topographic view painting. The works of John Lewin, George Evans and John Eyre, three other important artists working in the colony during Macquarie's administration, are often concerned with this subject. Indeed, most of Joseph Lycett's own work focuses on the changes wrought by Europeans, rather than on the life and culture of Aboriginal people; in the majority o f his works, Aboriginal people have only marginal status.

While Aboriginal use and control of the land had been a dominant theme for the artists of the First Fleet and for artists working in the First decade of European settlement, most representations of the landscape produced in New South Wales by 1820 show Aboriginal people as mere stallage, as an exotic element located at the edges of compositions. In the work of European artists, Aboriginal people had been transformed from a people in control of their land and culture to powerless and passive observers of European civilisation in Australia. They had come to occupy the role of the 'other'.

In the works contained in Lycett's album, we see a return to an earlier mode of depicting Aborigines in control o f the land; they are also seen in conflict with Europeans, a subject that Lewin. Evans and Eyre avoided. Aboriginal people occupy centre stage in Lycett's compositions; restored to their former place, they no longer have the status of 'other'. Yet Lycett's pictures describe a situation which was disappearing. By the second decade of the nineteenth century, the Aborigines of the New South Wales coast were rapidly being alienated from their land by Europeans.

5

The Watercolours

T h e wate rco lour drawings in the Nat ional Library a l b u m 1 2 show Abor ig ina l peop le involved in

various activities associated with thei r use and con t ro l of the land. Whi l e it is possible to identify the

loca t ions desc r ibed by some of Lycet t ' s scenes , o thers are difficult to identify and in these cases the

drawings may no t accurate ly desc r ibe a par t icular p lace .

A loca t ion which can be readily identif ied is that dep ic ted in A Distant View of Sydney and the Harbour,

Captain Piper's Naval Villa at Eliza Point on the Left, in the Foreground a Family of Aborigines (plate 4). Th i s

drawing shows Abor ig ina l p e o p l e walking th rough an elevated sect ion of the h a r b o u r fo reshore . T h e

g r o u p is led by a m a n carrying spears and a woomera . H e is followed by a woman , who carr ies an infant

on h e r back and a dilly-bag in h e r hand . S h e is trailed by a young boy who, like the man , carr ies weapons

for hunt ing . A small d ingo a c c o m p a n i e s the group . Lycett shows his figures wearing c lo th , which is d raped

a r o u n d the body in a c c o r d a n c e with E u r o p e a n standards of modes t dress. However, Abor iginal peop le

rarely wore at t ire of this kind and Lycet t probably inc luded this type of drapery as a concess ion to the

expec ta t ions of his pat rons .

T h e figures are loca ted nea r the c e n t r e of the fo r eg round and d o m i n a t e the compos i t ion . Lycett

was n o t a skilled figure pa in te r and by compar i son with his hand l ing of the features of the landscape his

figures are crudely drawn. Yet, in the way h e descr ibes the ma le figure, who faces the spec ta tor head-on

with his arm drawn across his ches t , ready to defend h i m s e l f and his c o m p a n i o n s , he shows them as peop le

in con t ro l of the land and ready to de fend thei r use of it.

Posed against this assert ion of b lack ownership is ev idence of white possession. The scene descr ibes

Sydney Cove, look ing from directly opposi te what is now Poin t P iper across to Ci rcular Quay, B e n n e l o n g

Poin t and the North S h o r e in the far right of the compos i t ion . G a r d e n Island and the pr ison island of

Fo r t Den i son are also dep ic ted . The Gove rno r ' s stables are just visible in the c e n t r e of the image , to the

r ight of the windmill seen above the h e a d of the adult male .

12 T h e sketches in the album are untitled. Individual titles in this work have been assigned by staff o f the Pictorial section at the National Library of Australia. T h e sketches are discussed h e r e in logical subject groupings; plate n u m b e r s indicate their original o r d e r in the album.

7

T h e most striking archi tec tura l feature in the landscape is Henr i e t t a Villa, o r the Naval Villa, which

is seen at the far left. The villa was the r e s idence of Capta in J o h n Piper , a c lose friend of the Macquar ies .

P ipe r arrived in the co lony in 1 7 9 2 , and after serving as an adminis t ra tor in various capaci t ies was

appo in ted magistrate in 1 8 1 9 . In 1825 h e b e c a m e C h a i r m a n o f the B a n k of New South Wales . H e

completed building his Italianate villa at Point Piper, then known as Eliza Point, in 1822.13

Piper's home became a centre for social life in the colony. The villa supported a large garden,

a n d an enc losu re in the shape of a cross is seen b e h i n d the r e s idence . Th i s e c h o e s the villa's d o m e d

ba l l room, built in the shape of a St Andrew's Cross. P iper is said to have b e e n in the habi t of saluting

fr iends as they sailed in and ou t of the h a r b o u r by firing shots from a row of c a n n o n loca ted in the front

of his ga rden . 1 4 The portraits that he c o m m i s s i o n e d Augustus Ear le to paint c. 1 8 2 6 — o f h imse l f and of

his wife and c h i l d r e n — a r e amongs t the most ambi t ious portrai ts of the early co lon ia l per iod. T h e y are

an indica t ion o f P iper ' s sense of his own in f luence and o f the ro le he had es tabl ished for h imse l f in

Sydney. 1 5

Piper ' s r e s idence is also seen in o t h e r works by Joseph Lycett , amongs t t hem the wate rco lour Point

Piper, N.S. Wales, in the Mitchel l Library, Sydney. The villa is also depic ted in the Mitchel l Library 's

min ia tu re penc i l drawing Marine Pavilion at Point Piper, the Seat of John Piper, Esq, N.S.W., an una t t r ibu ted

work that may be by Lycett . Lycet t ' s engraving View of Captain Piper's Naval Villa, at Eliza Point, near Sidney,

New South Wales, in his Views in Australia, shows the villa and its ga rdens at c lose quar ters .

A Distant View is the only wate rco lour in the a lbum that focuses upon Sydney Harbour . It is also

the drawing least concerned with descr ib ing the ac t ions of Abor ig ina l peop le in the landscape, and most

c o n c e r n e d with showing the impac t of E u r o p e a n s on the land. It shows the same view of the ha rbour as

that seen in the Views in Australia engraving Distant View of Sydney from the Light House at South Head, New

South Wales, which it r e sembles in te rms of its compos i t ion .

All of the o t h e r works in the a lbum, with the e x c e p t i o n of An Aboriginal Funeral (plate 20), in which

we see Sydney's Sou th H e a d in the background , appea r to desc r ibe the lives of Aboriginal peop le living

a r o u n d the Newcastle, Lake Macqua r i e , Por t S t e p h e n s and Myall Lakes areas. Many of the drawings r eco rd

distinctive features of the coastal , river a n d lake reg ions in these areas loca ted immedia te ly nor th o f

Sydney. Lycett , as we have seen, lived in the se t t l ement at Newcastle from 1815 until at least 1817 , when

we know that he jou rneyed to Sydney. H e visited Port S t e p h e n s en rou te to Sydney and it is possible that

13 F o r a discussion o f the life of John Piper, see Marjorie B a r n a r d , The Life and Times of Captain John Piper, Sydney. 1939 .

14 Ibid., p. 112. 15 F o r a discussion o f these portrai ts see T i m Bonyhady, 'Augustus Earle ' in Australian Colonial Paintings in the Australian National

Gallery, C a n b e r r a , 1986 , pp. 92-5; and Patricia R. McDonald and Barry P e a r c e , The Artist and the Patron: Aspects of Colonial Art in New South Wales, Sydney, 1 9 8 8 , pp. 32-3.

8

The Lycett Album

T h e W a t e r c o l o u r s

on that occas ion he made prepara tory sketches of some of the subjects that appea r in the a lbum. H e may

also have re tu rned at a later date to this reg ion .

It is c lear that Lycett sought to accurate ly record the cus toms and land use of the Aboriginal peop le

living in the area he chose to paint . If we c o m p a r e the i conography c o n t a i n e d in his pic tures with

descr ip t ions that appea r in the written accoun t s of the per iod , we find c lose c o r r e s p o n d e n c e between

details in the pictures and mater ia l in the narrative sources . The mos t useful and deta i led informat ion

on Aboriginal peop le living on the nor th coast of New South Wales between 1820 and 1840 may be found

in the letters, repor ts and o t h e r publ ished works of the missionary Lance lo t Edward Thre lke ld . 1 6

L . E . T h r e l k e l d was a m e m b e r of the L o n d o n Missionary Society, a nonconformis t Chris t ian

associat ion ded ica ted to b r ing ing the gospel to ind igenous peop le th roughout the British Empi r e . After

working for many years on the Polynesian island of Raiatea, he began a c a r e e r in Australia devoted to

educa t ing Abor ig ina l peop le , to conver t ing them to Christianity, and to represen t ing their rights be fore

the law. In May 1825 he es tabl ished a mission at Reid ' s Mistake, on the eastern shore of Lake Macquar ie ,

in the area where Swansea is now located .

As T h r e l k e l d was in teres ted in the cus toms and beliefs of the peop le with w h o m he worked, the

observat ions that appear in his repor ts are invaluable sources of in format ion on the cul ture of Aboriginal

p e o p l e from the Newcastle area , as well as on the state of race relat ions in the co lony of New South Wales.

T h r e l k e l d was the first E u r o p e a n to study an Aboriginal language seriously. H e c o m p i l e d a

g r a m m a r of Kat tang, a language spoken by the peop le occupying the terri tory ex t end ing from just south

of the Macleay River to the Hun te r River district. 1 7 The Abor ig ina l groups o r peoples living in the lower

and middle parts of the H u n t e r Valley inc luded the Geawegal , Wanarua , Awabakal and Wor imi . The major

g r o u p living in the a rea a round Newcastle and Lake Macquar ie was the Awabakal, literally ' p eop l e of the

plain surface',18 and it appears that Lycett was largely descr ib ing the cus toms and land use of these peop le

in his drawings.

It is c lea r from T h r e l k e l d ' s writings and from o t h e r con t empora ry sources that by the early decades

of the n i n e t e e n t h century, in the wake of Eu ropean se t t lement , the n u m b e r s of Abor ig ines living on the

coast between Sydney and Newcastle had b e e n cons iderably r educed . The ou tb reak of smal lpox amongst

16 See L . E . Threlkeld , Australian Reminiscences & Papers of L.E. Threlkeld, Missionary In the Aborigines, 1824-1859, 2 vols, ed. Niel Gunson , C a n b e r r a , 1974.

17 See W.J . Enr ight , 'The Kattang (Kut thung) or Worimi: An Aboriginal tribe', Mankind, vol. I, no. 4, March 1932, pp. 75-7.

18 Threlkeld, Australian Reminiscences, vol. I, p. 3.

9

T h e L y c e tt A l b u m

these people had a devastating effect. 1 9 David Collins was one of those who descrihed the impact of the disease on the coastal populations: 'In the year 1789 they were visited by a disorder which raged among them with all the appearance and virulence of the small-pox'. 2 0 Collins also wrote that the outbreak was not restricted to Sydney: 'On visiting Broken Bay, we found that it had not confined its effects to Port Jackson, for in many places our path was covered with skeletons, and the same spectacles were to be met with in the hollows of most of the rocks of that harbour'.

By the early 1820s, when Lycett most probably executed the pictures in his album, disease had reduced the Aboriginal population of the Newcastle, Hunter River and Lake Macquarie areas. Threlkeld notes in one of his earliest letters to the London Missionary Society: 'The natives are not in this country located in any number although every tribe has its district the boundary of which must not be passed without permission from the tribe to which it belongs' . 2 2 This suggests that although there were not large numbers of Aboriginal people in these areas, communal structures had remained intact.

While disease was the principal cause of the reduction in their numbers, conflict with pastoralists became the most serious problem facing Aboriginal people following the first years of contact with Europeans. Threlkeld's diaries continually refer to racial conflict. Indeed, Threlkeld's main role appears to have been that of a conciliator of disputes and protector of, and advocate for, Aboriginal people before the law.

Aborigines Resting by a Camp Fire near the Mouth of the Hunter River, Newcastle, NSW (plate 12) is an important work in Lycett's series. His inclusion of Nobby's Island at the head of the Hunter River enables us to positively identify the area depicted. In this romantic scene, the rising moon creates a powerful atmosphere as it sheds light over the ocean, illuminating the activities o f the figures in the landscape. The drawing shows two groups of people seated around camp fires, relaxing quietly in the moonlight. All of the figures appear to be male and are wearing white loincloths.

Most of the Aboriginal people in Lycett's work wear clothing. The men usually wear loincloths, while the women wear cloths that cover the entire torso. Yet it is clear from contemporary accounts that Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Aborigines did not wear clothes. Threlkeld repeatedly refers to this in his letters. In April 1825 he reports: 'The Natives are perfectly naked both men and women living in the

Id S e c David Col l ins , An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales: With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, &c. of the Native Inhabitants oj thai'Country, [vol. 1 ] , L o n d o n , 1 7 9 8 , pp . 6 5 - 6 . S e e also t h e discussion o f the impact o f smal lpox o n Australian Abor ig ina l popu la t ions in Noel Bn t l in , Our Original Aggression: Aboriginal Populations of Southeastern A ustralia 17SS-IS50, Sydney, 1983 , pp. 6 3 - 5 .

20 Col l ins , Account, 1 7 9 8 , p. 5 9 7 .

21 Ibid.

22 T h r e l k e l d to Wil l iam Alers Han key, L o n d o n Missionary Socie ty , 2 0 August 1825 , in T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 2 . p. 186 .

10

woods roving abou t from place to place',23 T h r e l k e l d also notes that Abor ig ines did not always wear c lo thes

in the streets of Sydney:

It was the custom at this time for the Aborigines both male and female to parade the streets without a particle o f clothing, and it struck me very forcibly, on my first landing in Sydney in 1817, to observe such scenes in the midst of what was called a civilized community, and when walking one day with some colonial Ladies, and meeting a mixed party of undressed natives of both sexes, no slight embarrassment was fell as how dexterously to avoid the unseemly meeting, but this was speedily removed by their claiming old acquaintance privileges, and entering into a friendly conversation with our friends.24

Lycett and o t h e r artists working in the 1820s , inc lud ing Augustus Ear le , show Aboriginal peop le outside

urban c o m m u n i t i e s — e v e n those in unset t led areas—wearing E u r o p e a n c lo th ing . T h i s is a lmost cer ta inly

a result of the British bias against displaying the body and no t a ref lect ion of Abor ig ina l cus tom o r prac t ice .

Lycet t ' s image is very appeal ing , with its use of roman t i c and p ic turesque devices, as well as local

subjec t mat ter , to c rea te a d ramat ic effect. The artist uses a coulisse to f rame his compos i t ion , with a

eucalypt on the far left and a casuar ina , o r she-oak, on the far right. At the same t ime, h e crowds his

compos i t ion with ex t raord inary detail , which gives the work a naive and u n s c h o o l e d appea rance .

T h i s p ic ture is similar in m o o d to Fishing by Torchlight, Other Aborigines beside CampFires CookingFish

(plate 5), in which several Abor ig ines are seen roast ing fish on a c a m p fire on the shore while o thers are

fishing from canoes . Once again, the s cene is i l luminated by the l ight of a rising m o o n , which e n h a n c e s

the r o m a n t i c a t m o s p h e r e of the work.

Fishing was the mos t impor t an t source of food for the Awabakal and Wor imi peop le . There are

n u m e r o u s descr ip t ions of the Awabakal m e t h o d of fishing in T h r e l k e l d ' s journals and letters:

Their mode of fishing is curious, sometimes angling with hook and line thrown by the hand as they are seated in the bark canoe, sometimes diving for shell fish, sometimes standing in their frail bark darting their spears into the fish as they pass, or at other times using hand nets forming a circle in shallow waters and enclosing the fish; but the most curious method is that of planting sprigs of bushes in a zig-zag form across the streams, leaving an interval at the point of every angle where the men stand with their nets to catch what others frighten towards them by splashing in the water. 2 5

It is c lea r that the re was cons ide rab le subtlety in the me thods employed for ca t ch ing fish. T h r e l k e l d also

descr ibes the manufac tu re and use of the bark c a n o e :

Their canoes are simply a piece of bark 14 or more feet long and from 3 to 4 feet wide. They are procured by climbing a large tree, not in the usual way of notching the bark with a hatchet, and placing the toes in those steps, but by raising a scaffold against the tree, and chopping round the top at the height they want. Others cut the bottom, and it is then stripped off, tied up at each end to a point; a piece of stick

23 Thre lke ld to G e o r g e B u r d e r , L o n d o n Missionary Society, 25 April 1 8 2 5 , in Threlkeld, Australian Reminiscences, vol. 2, p. 182.

24 Thre lke ld , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 44.

25 Thre lke ld , L o n d o n Missionary Society Repor t , [ D e c e m b e r 1 8 2 5 ] , in Thre lke ld , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 2, p. 190.

11

The Watercolours

A Night Scene in the Neighbourhood of Sydney, engraving in Collins, Account, 1802, [frontispiece]

'A Scene by Moonlight', engraving in Collins, Account, 1802, p. x

The Lycett Album

12

is put at one-third from each end, and a string secures the sides to the sticks so as it shall not separate; a quantity of clay is placed in the centre as a hearth, on which they roast the fish as they catch them. 2 6

T h e figures in Fishing by Torchlight are insufficiently deta i led for the viewer to be able to d e t e r m i n e

thei r gender . It is c lea r from T h r e l k e l d ' s accounts , however, that fishing was frequently the task of women:

'Naked and shivering with co ld the women , used to be seen, in the winter seasons suffering severely from

the effects of the b leak wind until a sufficient supply of fish was ob ta ined , when they re tu rned on shore

to supply thei r Lords with a hearty meal ' . 2 7

T h r e l k e l d ' s descr ipt ion of Abor ig ines fishing on Lake Macquar i e in the evening cou ld almost be

a descr ip t ion of Lycet t ' s m o o n l i g h t scene :

It was a pleasing sight on a calm summer's evening to see a number o f the native canoes on the glass-like surface of the Lake, sending up their strait columns of smoke from the centre o f the barques, shewing an appearance of a fleet of small steamers at anchor in the stream. The wild vines of the bush formed their cables and a heavy stone was the substitute for an anchor. 2 8

Abor ig ines g r o u p e d a r o u n d c a m p fires at the water 's edge are also seen in ear l ie r co lon ia l pictures,

such as two engravings il lustrating the s econd volume of David Col l ins 's Account . 2 9 The compos i t ion , the

disposit ion of the figures and, in part icular , the dep ic t ion of the n igh t sky in these works are remarkably

c lose to c o m p a r a b l e e l e m e n t s in Fishing by Torchlight.

T h e use of the resources of sea, lake and river is one of the con t ro l l ing themes of the a lbum, and

six o t h e r watercolours , in addi t ion to the two n ight scenes , descr ibe fishing and activities associated with

hun t ing the birds of the wetlands.

Aborigines Spearing Fish, Others Diving for Crayfish; a Party Seated beside a Fire Cooking Fish (plate 14)

shows a variety of activities taking p lace on a b e a c h close to a head land . In the fo reground , peop le are

seen fishing with spears f rom a rocky ou tc rop . The fishing spear, dis t inguished by its four-pronged point ,

is dep ic ted in this watercolour , as well as in Two Aborigines Spearing Eels (plate 7). The spear is desc r ibed

by T h r e l k e l d in the following way:

The fish-spear Kul-la-ra, and Mo-ting, two names, is made from the stem o f the grass-tree [a grass tree is depicted at the far right in Aborigines Feeding from Beached Whales (plate)], at the end there are four

26 Ibid., pp. 1 9 0 - 1 .

27 T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 54.

28 Ibid. 29 Wil l iam A l e x a n d e r , 'A Scene by M o o n l i g h t ' , engrav ing in David Col l ins , An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, From

its First Settlement, in January 1788, to August 1801: With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, &c. of the Native Inhabitants of that Country, vol. 2 , L o n d o n , 1 8 0 2 . p. x; A Night Scene in the Neighbourhood of Sydney, engrav ing in Col l ins , Account, 1802 , [frontispiece]. Col l ins gives Wil l iam A l e x a n d e r as the artist and James Powell as the engraver of all the engravings r e p r o d u c e d in his Account, but s ince A l e x a n d e r is not known to have c o m e to New Sou th Wales it is likely that he worked up his drawings in E n g l a n d , bas ing them on p ic tures by the co lon ia l artist T h o m a s Wall ing.

13

The Watercolours

The Lycett Album

pieces of hard wood, about two feet long, [which] are fastened with a bark-thread covered with the grass-tree gum, heated in the fire until at a melting point, when it is worked round the thread fastening it, as we would use sealing wax for a similar purpose. The three or four shorter spears thus fastened to the long stem of the grass tree, of about six feet length, becomes [sic] thus somewhere nigh eight feet in the total length of the weapon. 3 0

In an adjo in ing cove th ree young m e n are seen cray fishing. Lycet t shows the process by depic t ing

it in th ree stages. W e see a diver mak ing his way in to the water towards the prey, a n o t h e r is s u b m e r g e d

and su r rounded by the crayfish, while a third figure is seen e m e r g i n g from the water with the two crea tures

h e has caught . T h r e l k e l d no tes that crayfish were highly sought after by the Awabakal, who were p repared

to risk a shark at tack to p rocu re them:

The craw-fish is a favourite food, and much hazard was often undergone by the aborigines in endeavouring to obtain them. Their general mode was to go out, choosing a calm day at sea, in one of their frail canoes, and dive along side of the rocks, and pull the fish out of the holes in the rock under water, by their long horns, sometimes a shark would make its appearance, when the utmost agility would be required to escape the monster, who would, as readily seize the legs of the biped animal and devour him as that animal would the tail of the cretacious one. 3 1

Elsewhere in the s cene , peop l e are seated a r o u n d a c a m p fire, p repar ing a mea l from the day's

ca tch . A woman with a baby arrives at the c a m p fire and to the r ight a young m a n dr inks water f rom a

waterfall. The whole s c e n e is over looked by a n o t h e r g roup of peop l e pos i t ioned at the top of the head land .

By descr ib ing the scene in this way, Lycet t c rea tes the impress ion that the land is be ing actively utilised

by the Awabakal, who clearly occupy it and at the same t ime live in h a r m o n y with it.

Lycet t ' s pale t te is part icularly fine in this watercolour . The g reen tones of the vegetat ion, the light

greys a n d pale browns of the sands tone , t oge the r with the pale b lues of the sea, c rea te a pleasant effect.

T h e co lours are accura te to those of the no r th coas t of New Sou th Wales and Lycet t shows an in teres t in

conveying the geo log ica l cha rac t e r of the a rea th rough his dep ic t ion of the exposed sands tone ou tc rops

of the head land .

Aborigines Feeding from Beached Whales (plate 8 ) is similarly loca ted . The landscape dep ic ted in this

work is clearly a sec t ion of the coas t c lose to Nobby ' s Head , at the head of the H u n t e r River. Lycett shows

the sur f b reak ing and we see a ship ou t at sea on the hor izon . The pic ture descr ibes the prepara t ion and

c o n s u m p t i o n of the flesh of a b e a c h e d whale, a prac t ice to which T h r e l k e l d refers:

A Whale, cast on shore, is quite a feast, and messengers are despatched to all the neighbouring tribes, who assemble and feast upon the monster of the deep so long as the treat lasts. Porpoises are never refused. We shot one or two, once, in the lake, and the blacks drew the dead fish on shore, but, as Queen

30 T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 6 7 .

31 Ibid. , pp. 55-6.

14

T h e W a t e r c o l o u r s

Elizabeth had such fish on her royal table, we must not think too unfavourably o f the aborigines of N.S. Wales, because they love a similar dish to that of the maiden-Queen.' 5 2

Collins's narrative refers to the beaching of a whale in Manly Cove: 'The cove was full of natives allured by the attractions of a whale feast'. 3 3 The same occasion is referred to by the Port Jackson Painter in two watercolours that describe the spearing of Governor Arthur Phillip on 7 September 1790. 3 1

The precise location of the scene depicted in A Family of Aborigines Taking Shelter' during a Storm (plate 10) is not known. Gale-force winds bend the trees and waves break against a nearby headland. Lightning flashes through a gloomy sky. In the left foreground we see a young family taking refuge from the storm in a cave. The menfolk attend to the fire, which will be used to bake the fine bream held by the man standing at the entrance to the cave, while a young woman feeds her infant. They seem unperturbed by the turbulent weather outside. 3 5

Threlkeld's description of the plight of Aborigines during rough weather suggests that they did not usually fare as well as the family in Lycett's charming watercolour: 'How pitiable was the condition of the aborigines when the equinoctial gales, or other stormy weather set in, for days then were they found sleeping around their fires in any bushy spot as a shelter from the storm'. 3 6

Two Aborigines Spearing Eels (plate 7) shows two figures, in the classical pose of warriors, spearing eels from rocks. In Lycett's Views in Australia, the letterpress accompanying one of his plates refers to the catching of eels by the Aboriginal people of the Hunter River region: 'Very large Eels are taken here by the Natives, who make Canoes of the bark of the large Eucalyptus, from which, at certain seasons of the year, they spear vast quantities o f these Eels, weighing from ten to twenty pounds each ' . 3 7 Collins refers to the people of the Hawkesbury River area constructing traps with which to catch eels: 'They resort at a

32 Ibid. , p. 5 5 .

33 Col l ins , Account, 1 7 9 8 , p. 134 .

31 Port J a c k s o n Pa in te r , Mr Waterhmi.se Endeavouring to Break the Spear after Govr Phillips [sic] Was Wounded by Wil-le-me-ring where the Whale Was Cast on Shore in Manly Cove (Wat l ing Co l l ec t i on 2 4 , Bri t ish M u s e u m , Natural His tory) , and The Governor Making the Best of His Way to the Boat after Being Wounded with the Spear Slicking in His Shoulder (Wat l ing Co l l ec t ion 2 3 , Brit ish M u s e u m , Natural history). B o t h of these wa te rco lours a re discussed and i l lustrated in B e r n a r d Smi th and Alwvnnc W h e e l e r , eds. The Art of the First Fleet & Other Early Australian Drawings, M e l b o u r n e , 1 9 8 8 , p. 67 . The spear ing may have resul ted from a misunder s t and ing when Phill ip s lopped to address an A b o r i g i n e , who was o n e o f rnany ( inc lud ing B e n n e l o n g , with w h o m the G o v e r n o r was a c q u a i n t e d ) who had g a t h e r e d on the b e a c h to par t ic ipa te in the whale feast. A c c o r d i n g to Col l ins , the Abor ig ine , ' pe rhaps th ink ing that he | Phi l l ip] was g o i n g to seize h i m as a p r i soner , lifted a spear f rom the grass with his foot , and . . . in an instant da r ted it at the gove rno r . The spear e n t e r e d a little above the co l l a r b o n e . . . T h e spear was e x t r a c t e d with m u c h skill by Mr. Ba lma in , o n e o f the assis tant-surgeons o f the hospi ta l , who immedia te ly p r o n o u n c e d the wound n o t mor t a l ' (Col l ins , Account, 1 7 9 8 , pp. 1 3 4 - 5 ) .

35 F o r a discussion o f this work, see R o b e r t D i x o n , The Course of Empire: Neo-Ctassical Culture in New South Wales, 1788—1860, M e l b o u r n e , 198b, pp. 6 5 - 6 .

36 T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 5 6 .

37 Lycett, Views in Australia, le t terpress a c c o m p a n y i n g plate 2 2 .

15

The Lycett Album

Lake Patterson, near Pattersons Plains.—Hunter River. New South Wales, e n g r a v i n g by Joseph Lycett in his Views in Australia, plate 22

cer ta in season of the year ( the m o n t h o f Apri l) to the lagoons , where they subsist o n eels which they

p r o c u r e by laying hol low p ieces of t imber in to the water, in to which the eels c r eep , and are easily taken'.38

Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds (plate 3 ) and Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds in the Rushes (plate 18) are

two similar compos i t i ons depic t ing the hun t ing of birds that inhab i t the wetlands in the uppe r r eaches

of the H u n t e r River. B o t h drawings descr ibe the m e t h o d of hun t ing birds at c lose range . In Aborigines

Hunting Waterbirds we see several m e n standing in the water at the edge of a lake, driving spears th rough

some birds and ca t ch ing o the r s in thei r hands . In Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds in the Rushes, m e n bea t the

reeds with spears to flush ou t the birds, while a g roup of peop l e is seen at the lake ' s edge , p repar ing a

fire for the mea l that will follow the hunt .

B o t h pic tures descr ibe the topography of the river landscape , with the specta tor look ing into the

landscape over a shee t of pale-blue water that s t re tches into the dis tance , flat and glass-like. T h e s e two

views r e s e m b l e the engraving Lake Patterson, near Patterson's Plains. —Hunter River. New South Wales, in

Lycet t ' s Views in Australia. Lake Pat terson was loca ted in the uppe r r eaches of the Hun te r , an a rea that

was subsequent ly d ra ined and given over to pastoral use. The let terpress a c c o m p a n y i n g the pr in t descr ibes

the lake as be ing abou t 'five miles in length , and from o n e to two miles and a ha l f wide ' . Wild ducks, teal,

38 Col l ins , Account, 1798 , p. 558.

16

The Watercolours

Throwing the Spear, engraving in John Heaviside Clark, Field Sports &c. &c. of the Native Inhabitants of New South Wales, plate [3]

widgeons, b lack swans and 'a pecul ia r sort of Geese, which are abou t the size of the c o m m o n Engl ish wild

Goose , and of a remarkably fine flavour, as n e a r as possible to the Engl ish wild Duck'29 i nhab i t ed the area.

In Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds in the Rushes (plate 18) Lycet t again uses the device of the coulisse

to f rame his compos i t i on . H e r e he places groups of t rees in the middle r ight and middle left, f raming his

image and, at the same t ime, b reak ing up the compos i t ion , while providing a m e a n s by which the viewer

can judge dis tance. The hun t ing of birds by Abor ig ines is no t a c o m m o n subject in visual mater ia l

p r o d u c e d dur ing the early n i n e t e e n t h century. J o h n Heaviside Clark ' s engraving Throwing the Spear, from

his Field Sports, &c. &c. of the Native Inhabitants of New South Wales publ i shed in L o n d o n in 1 8 1 3 , shows

Abor ig ines spear ing galahs, and is o n e o f the few early works descr ib ing the spear ing o f birds. T h e

disposit ion of the figures in 'Throwing the Spear is reca l led in Two Aborigines Spearing Eels. In bo th works,

figures are p laced large in the fo reg round of the compos i t ion , s i lhouet ted against a landscape .

An Aborigine Climbing a Tree by Cutting Steps in the Trunk (plate 1) and Aborigine Climbing a Tree with

Two Aborigines Sitting beside a Fire, Others Spearing Birds (plate 2 ) a re two of the five works in the a lbum that

show the hun t ing of land animals . The m e t h o d of c l imbing trees dep ic t ed in bo th works is descr ibed in

a n u m b e r of early journals. It is no t ed by Threlkeld and also by Col l ins , who c o m m e n t s :

39 Lycet t , Views in Australia, le t terpress a c c o m p a n y i n g plate 22 .

17

Climbing Trees, engraving in John Heaviside (Mark, Field Sports &c. &c. of Native Inhabitants of New South Wales, plate [4]

It has been remarked, that the natives who have been met with in the woods had longer arms and legs than those who lived about us. This might proceed from their being compelled to climb the trees after honey and the small animals which resort to them, such as the flying squirrel and opossum, which they effect by cutting with their stone hatchets notches in the bark of the tree of a sufficient depth and size to receive the ball of the great toe. The first notch being cut, the toe is placed in it; and while the left arm embraces the tree, a second [notch] is cut at a convenient distance to receive the other foot. By this method they ascend very quick [ly], always cutting with the right hand and clinging with the left, resting the whole weight of the body on the ball of either foot.

In an excursion to the westward with a party, we passed a tree (of the kind named by us the white gum, the bark of which is soft) that we judged to be about one hundred and thirty feet in height, and which had been notched by the natives at least eighty feet, before they attained the first branch where it was likely they could meet with any reward for so much toi l . 4 0

40 Col l ins , Account, 1 7 9 8 , p. 550.

18

The Lycett Album

T h e n o t c h i n g and c l imb ing of t rees in o r d e r to hun t g a m e is the subject of the engraving Climbing

Trees in Clark ' s Field Sports, and of the Por t Jackson Pain ter ' s wate rco lour Method of Climbing Trees.41

Aborigines Hunting Kangaroos (plate 9 ) and Aborigines Using Fire to Hunt Kangaroos (plate 17)

descr ibe the m e t h o d of hun t ing the kangaroo . The lat ter work depicts the frequent ly employed m e t h o d

of bu rn ing the count ry to flush ou t g a m e . T h r e l k e l d refers to this m e t h o d in his descr ipt ion of Awabakal

ini t iat ion c e r e m o n i e s . Speak ing of the Abor ig ine known as John McGil l , he notes :

A few weeks back Be-rah-bahn returned from a ceremony performed in the mountains, which has initiated him into all the rights of an Aborigine.—It appears that they burn a large part of the country, then hunt for kangaroos, feast upon the shank bones only, after which they pipe clay themselves all over and then everyone must rush at once into the water and bathe themselves clean. 4 2

Elsewhere he writes:

Sometimes I accompanied them in their hunting excursions, but this caused more bodily fatigue than could be well sustained without the advantage contemplated in obtaining phrases in their language. For when the sun is fully up, the whole tribe prepares for the hunt by taking their spears, throwing-sticks, hatchets, and fire-brands, proceeding to the hills, they scatter themselves so as to surround a valley, leaving the entrance guarded by several good marksmen armed with spears. The surrounding party then begin to enclose shouting with all their might, but still in regular time. The Kangaroos and other animals become alarmed and make towards the entrance of the valley, where a shower of spears transfix them in their endeavour to escape.4 3

Two Aborigines Hunting Emus (plate 15) is the only o t h e r wate rco lour in the a lbum that depicts the

hun t i ng of animals . It shows two m e n occupying a r idge, pos i t ioning themselves b e h i n d sandstone rocks

to h ide from the emus that graze on the plain below. T h r e l k e l d descr ibes the spear ing of g a m e as follows:

On the appearance o f any game, the men transfixed it with their spears, or ran after it with their cudgels and destroyed it. Some of the Aborigines climbed the trees, others stood like statues on the stumps with spears poised ready for the discharge. They seldom miss their a im. 4 4

T h e use of the spear by Abor ig ina l peop le of the Newcastle a rea is also desc r ibed in o t h e r con t empora ry

sources . As an anonymous writer r eco rded : 'The spear is the mos t deadly of the i r ins t ruments of war, they

throw it by m e a n s of an ins t rument ca l led a w o m m a r a which fixes into the e n d of the spear. T h e y can hit

with g rea t exac tness an o b j e c t a g o o d way away'.4 5

41 Por t Jackson Pa in ter , Method of Climbing Trees (Wat t ing Co l l ec t i on 75, Brit ish Museum, Natural His tory) , i l lustrated in Smi th and W h e e l e r , Art of the First Fleet, p. 55.

42 T h r e l k e l d , L o n d o n Missionary Socie ty Repor t , 21 June 1 8 2 6 , in T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 2, p. 206. Pipe clay is a fine white clay used for whi ten ing .

43 T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 46.

44 T h r e l k e l d , L o n d o n Missionary Socie ty Repor t , [December 1825], in T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 2, p. 190 .

15 A n o n y m o u s manusc r ip t desc r ib ing the s e t t l emen t on the H u n t e r River, and the Abor ig ines of the district , in the pe r iod 1 8 1 5 - 2 9 ,

in the papers of J o h n D u n m o r e Lang, vol. 1, p. 6 2 .

19

The Watercolours

The Lycett Album

Aborigines with Spears Attacking Europeans in a Rowing Boat (plate 16) is the only drawing that depic ts

Eu ropeans . In this work, a n u m b e r of sailors, the i r ship at a n c h o r b e h i n d them, are seen fishing from a

rowing boat . A ne t has b e e n cast ou t in front of the bow of the boat . As they await their ca tch , the sailors

are m e t with a host i le response from local Abor ig ines , who shower t hem with spears. The ser iousness of

the at tack is ind ica ted by the fact that a ha t b e l o n g i n g to o n e of the sailors is seen floating in the water

with a spear th rough it. A cons ide rab le n u m b e r of warriors are shown hur l ing thei r spears and it is c lea r

f rom thei r at t i tude that they in tend to repulse the boa t load of Eu ropeans .

T h e r e can be n o d o u b t that t he re was a g rea t deal of conf l ic t be tween E u r o p e a n s and Aboriginal

peop le f rom the t ime of the arrival of whites in Australia in 1 7 8 8 . The subjec t of racial conf l ic t is cont inual ly

re fer red to in narrative and visual sources of the co lon ia l pe r iod . 4 6

T h r e l k e l d ' s journa l carr ies many accoun t s of racial conf l ic t in the Newcastle and Lake Macquar ie

areas . The first r e f e r e n c e to v io lence be tween E u r o p e a n s and Abor ig ines occurs in the journal entry for

Monday, 12 D e c e m b e r 1 8 2 5 , some seven m o n t h s after T h r e l k e l d ' s arrival at Re id ' s Mistake. F r o m this day

on , his journal is cont inual ly punc tua ted with descr ip t ions of assault, m u r d e r and summary execu t ions

of Abor ig ina l peop l e by Europeans , as well as with accoun t s of retal iatory ac t ions on the part of Abor ig ines .

O n 8 August 1 8 2 6 T h r e l k e l d wrote: 'A Black c a m e to m e yesterday saying that a grea t many blacks

were c o m i n g from the moun ta in s to burn all the houses of the Whi tes and that I must tell abou t it to the

C o m m a n d a n t ' . 4 7 O n 16 August, T h r e l k e l d con t inued :

The Horse police consisting of one sergeant and two privates called at our house with two prisoners, Blacks, who were fastened, with rope round their necks and handcuffed together, they were taken up suspected o f murder. One Black they shot bringing him down, as he endeavoured to escape, he bit the rope in two, and as he descended the bank of a river the Soldier shot him through the head. This makes the fourth summary execution of the Blacks in as many weeks.48

By S e p t e m b e r , T h r e l k e l d was descr ib ing the situation be tween E u r o p e a n s and Abor ig ina l peop le

in the Newcastle a rea as one of warfare: 'You will be gr ieved to hea r that war has c o m m e n c e d and still

con t i nues against the Abor ig ines of this land . . . Many lives will be lost on bo th sides and the Blacks th rea ten

to B u r n the C o r n & c as it r ipens—this would ruin the co lony at once'.49 T r o o p s were sent in to the a rea

by G o v e r n o r Dar l ing la ter that m o n t h . O n 11 S e p t e m b e r , in a le t ter to L o r d Bathurs t , Dar l ing wrote:

'I th ink it r ight to apprize you that the natives have lately c o m m i t t e d s o m e acts of ou t rage on Hun te r

46 F o r discussions of the conf l ic t be tween E u r o p e a n s and Abor ig ina l peop le in Australia, see But l in , Our Original Aggression; and

Henry Reynolds , The Law and the Land, M e l b o u r n e , 1 9 8 7 , and Reynolds , The Other Side of the Frontier, Townsvi l le , 1 9 8 1 .

47 T h r e l k e l d to S a x e Bann i s t e r , At to rney-Genera l , 8 August 1 8 2 6 , in T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 92.

48 T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 93.

49 T h r e l k e l d to G e o r g e B u r d e r and Wil l iam Alers Hankey, L o n d o n Missionary Socie ty , 11 S e p t e m b e r 1 8 2 6 , in T h r e l k e l d , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 2 , p. 214.

20

River, and that I have in c o n s e q u e n c e o rde red d e t a c h m e n t of t roops to p r o c e e d and banish their

aggressiveness ' . 5 0

Lycet t ' s picture descr ibes conflict between Awabakal peop le and what are probably m e m b e r s o f

the crew of a ship visiting the pena l se t t l ement at Newcastle. Confl ict be tween Abor ig ines and E u r o p e a n

soldiers and sailors is also desc r ibed in a n u m b e r of pic tures by Will iam Bradley and by the Fort Jackson

Painter , both artists of the First Fleet . The Port Jackson Pain ter ' s The Hunted Rushcut ter (also known as

'An Attack by Natives') shows a sailor be ing pursued by Abor ig ines . 5 1 Will iam Bradley 's the Taking of Colbee

and Benalon 2 5 Novr. 1789 descr ibes the k idnapping of C o l e b e e and B e n n e l o n g by the Brit ish, and the

res is tance m o u n t e d by Sydney Abor ig ines . 5 2

T h e Port Jackson Pain ter ' s The Governor Making the Best of His Way to the Boat after Being Wounded

with the Spear Sticking in His Shoulder and Mr Waterhouse Endeavouring to Break the Spear after Govr Phillips [sic]

Was Wounded by Wil-le-me-ring where the Whale Was Cast on Shore in Manly C o v e d e p i c t the spear ing of G o v e r n o r

Phil l ip at Manly Cove. 5 3 A n o t h e r inc iden t is r e c o r d e d in the Port Jackson Pain ter ' s Mr White, Harris &

Laing with a Party of Soldiers Visiting Botany Bay, Colebee at the Place when Wounded near Botony [sic] Bay which

descr ibes a punitive exped i t ion organised against the warrior Pemulwuy and led by the surgeon John

Whi te . 5 4

T h e r ema in ing five watercolours in the a lbum are c o n c e r n e d with descr ib ing ritual. Group of

Aborigines with Shields and Spears (plate 11) shows ten young m e n — a r m e d with spears and woomera , shields

and b o o m e r a n g s — p r e p a r i n g for a conf ron ta t ion . F o u r o t h e r men may be seen at the left o f the

compos i t ion in the dis tance. The m e n ' s batt le spears are different ia ted from hun t ing spears and fishing

spears by the saw-like a p p e a r a n c e o f their points . T h r e l k e l d descr ibes the imp lemen t s of war of the

Awabakal in detail and it is c lear from his descr ipt ion that Lycett observed thei r a p p e a r a n c e accurate ly

in this drawing:

The hunting spear, wa-rai, is ... made from the stem of the grass-tree, but having only one hardened joint of wood inserted at the end ... The battle-spear is made of the same material, but often with the

50 Dar l ing to Bathurs t , 11 S e p t e m b e r 1 8 2 6 . Sydney, New Sou th Wales G o v e r n o r ' s Despa t ches to the Secre ta ry of S ta te for the Co lon ie s , vol. 8, September-December 1 8 2 6 , pp. 207-14, Mitchel l Library, Sydney.

5 1 Port Jackson Painter , The Hunted Rushcutter ( B a n k s M s 3 4 : 4 4 , British Museum, Natural History). For a discussion and illustration of this work see Smi th and W h e e l e r , Art of the First Fleet, p. 6 7 .

52 Wil l iam Brad ley . Taking of Colbee and Benalon 2 5 Novr. 1789 (in Wil l iam Brad ley , 'A Voyage to New South Wales ' . Ms. Mitchel l Library, Sydney, fp. 1 8 2 ) . Discussed and illustrated in Smi th and W h e e l e r , Art of the First Fleet, p. 199 .

53 S e e f o o t n o t e 3 4 .

54 Por t Jackson Painter , Mr White, Harris & Laing with a Party of Soldiers Visiting Botany Bay, Colebee at the Flare when Wounded near Botony [sic] Bay (Wal l ing Co l l ec t i on 2 5 , Brit ish Museum, Natural His tory) . Discussed and il lustrated in Smi th and W h e e l e r , Art of the First Fleet, pp. 227-8.

21

The Watercolours

T h e L y c e t t A l b u m

addition of pieces of sharp quartz stuck along the hard wood joint on one side so as to resemble the teeth of a saw ... The war-spear, called by the same name as the hunting spear, is alike thrown, as all the spears are, by a throwing stick, made of hard wood and named, wom-mur-rur. This instrument is generally about four feet long, half an inch thick, and tapers to a point at one e n d . 5 5

T h e bodies of the young m e n in Lycett 's p ic ture a re m a r k e d with scars. This reflects the t radi t ional

pract ice a m o n g Aboriginal peop le of causing raised scars to a p p e a r o n the body. T h e pract ice was

general ly decorat ive and no t denota t ive of m e m b e r s h i p of a par t icular g r o u p or p e o p l e . 5 6

T h e shields he ld by the warriors tally in genera l t e rms with c o n t e m p o r a r y descr ip t ions of the shape

a n d deco ra t i on of Awabakal shields: The shield, Ko-reil, is usually about three feet long by eighteen inches, or so; at most lozenge-shaped, pointed at top and bottom, and pigeon-breasted rather than flat. The thickness in the centre may be an inch, not more, and thins off to about a quarter of an inch to the edge. On the inside of the shield, in the centre, a piece of tough wood is bent and inserted like the handle of a basket, just sufficiently large to hold by, and a soft piece of tea-tree-bark is fixed on which to rest the knuckles and preserve them from abrasion. The shield is made from one of the buttresses of the nettle-tree, or the great fig-tree, which the blacks select of size and thickness as best suits their purpose. It is astonishing to see the agility with which they will cover their whole body with so small a shield from the continued steady assault of their opponents ... The shields are always painted white with pipe-clay, and generally are ornamented with a St George's Cross, formed by two bands two or three inches wide, one vertical the other horizontal, colored red, with the pigment with which they paint their bodies for the dance or the fight.57

In descr ib ing the decora t ion of the shields of Kattang-speaking peop le , W.J. Enr igh t notes: 'This

i n s t r u m e n t is covered with pipe-clay a n d a d o r n e d with t h r ee red s t r i p e s ' . 5 8 Lycett's depic t ion of the shield

in Group of Aborigines therefore co r r e sponds qui te closely with descr ip t ions in the e thnological mater ial .

A Contest with Spears, Shields and Clubs (plate 6) shows young m e n involved in various contests of

skill, while w o m e n a n d ch i ld ren observe the p roceed ings from the sidelines wi th—accord ing to their

ges tu res—some cons te rna t ion . Thre lke ld notes: From infancy the children practise, in sport, the attack and defence, using a piece of the bark of the gum-tree for a shield, and small grass-tree stems for spears. The defendant holds the upper point of the shield level with his nose, looks over it at his assailant, lowers or raises, shifts to the right or left, the shield,just as occasion requires. 5 9

T h e pose of two of the m e n , who ba lance o n o n e foot with the o t h e r rest ing on the knee (seen at

the e x t r e m e r ight a n d left of the compos i t ion ) , is also refer red to by Thre lke ld : 'It is a most p ic turesque

55 Threlkeld , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p p . 67-8 . 56 For a discussion of Aboriginal body markings of this kind, see A.W. Howitt, The Native Tribes of South Eastern Australia, London ,

1904, p. 743.

57 Thre lke ld , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 68.

58 W.J. Enright, 'The language, weapons and manufactures of the Aborigines of Port Stephens , New South Wales' in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales for 1900, vol. 34, p. 1 16.

59 Threlkeld , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 68.

22

The Watercolours

sight to see a naked well-formed abor ig ine standing on the left leg with spear poised, and the o t h e r [ leg]

drawn up rest ing the sole of the r ight foot on the inside of the knee jo in t of the s tanding l imb ' . 6 0 Th i s

pose is seen extensively in visual mater ia l of the co lonia l per iod; it occurs , for example , in the work of (he

artists of the voyages of Nicolas Baudin and James Cook , as well as in the work of T h o m a s Watl ing.

The decora t ion of the shields in this p ic ture is m o r e varied than that seen in o t h e r works from

the a lbum. The artist R ichard Browne , who spent some years at the penal se t t l ement at Newcastle, inc luded

in his works the weapons of the Aboriginal peop le of the district. A shield drawn by Browne to illustrate

what is now refer red to as The Skottowe Manuscript carr ies the d iagonal stripes seen in Lycet t ' s watercolour . 6 1

Corroboree around a Camp Fire (plate 13) depicts the night- t ime pe r fo rmance of a ritual dance ,

possibly as part of an ini t iat ion c e r e m o n y . The p igments seen h e r e o n the bodies of the part icipants are

re fe r red to by T h r e l k e l d in his discussion of ritual prepara t ion for song and dance : ' R e d and white

p igments were appl ied as cosmet ics to the cheeks , fo rehead , breast , and o t h e r parts of the body, just as it

60 Ibid., p. 4 6 .

61 The Skottowe Manuscript: Thomas Skottowe's Select Specimens from Nature of the Birds, Animals, &c. &c. of New South Wales, ed. T i m Bonyhady, Sydney, 1988 , facsimile volume, p. 5 6 .

23

Warriors of New S. Walts, engraving in John Heaviside Clark, Field Sports &c. &c. of the Native Inhabitants of New South Wales, plale [7]

h a p p e n e d to be the fashion at the t ime ' . 6 2 A.W. Howitt discusses the appl icat ion of p igmen t to the body

in prepara t ion for init iat ion c e r e m o n i e s , and no tes in par t icular a c e r e m o n y of the Por t S t e p h e n s

Abor ig ines which he witnessed: 'I found that a con ica l fire was bu rn ing in the c e n t r e of a c l ea red space

. . . R o u n d this fire radiat ing, radiat ing from it like the spokes of a wheel and painted like skele tons were

a n u m b e r of b lacks ' . 6 3 The paint ing of the body with white p igmen t to r e semble a skele ton is also seen in

the engraving Warriors of New S. Wales in Clark ' s Field Sports.

A descr ip t ion of body mark ing c o n t a i n e d in a let ter , now in the Mitchel l Library, is particularly

c lose to those dep ic ted in Corroboree around a Camp Fire :

I went on Saturday evening, Nov 24 1821, to one o f their festivities known as the Corrobbarara. Many of the surrounding tribes were encamped in the woods. The Five Islands blacks, when darkness had shrouded nature in her mantle, began to undress; and immediately to paint themselves with a kind of white earth that resembles our pipe clay. The figures displayed neither taste nor ingenuity. Longitudinal lines on the legs and arms, and curved lines from the breast to the arms, and a spheroidal figure on the breast, intersected without the least display of art, constituted their principal pencil display. Some were disfigured with a soft excrescence of iron ore which made them red; and around the eye they struck a circle with the pipe clay.64

An Aborigine Warding off Spears with a Shield (plate 19) depicts m e m b e r s of one Abor ig ina l g roup

inflicting pun i shmen t upon a m e m b e r of a n o t h e r g roup . The subjec t of social con t ro l and pun i shmen t

in Abor ig ina l c o m m u n i t i e s is widely refer red to in the e thno log ica l l i terature . In this watercolour , we see

a young man fending o f f spears which are d i rec ted towards h im by his peers in what is clearly a ri tualised

form of c o m b a t . T h r e l k e l d descr ibes a similar ritual which he witnessed a m o n g the Awabakal people : Punishments, seem to be amongst the aborigines a sort of retribution, arising from the natural feeling of self protection, you protect me and I will protect you, is their principle of action. In a certain sense they are like our ancient tournaments, where the accuser and the accused fight to prove their innocence by victory. But, there is this difference amongst the aborigines, the accused stands punishment, literally, and does not fight in return, except a general engagement ensues. The alleged guilty one stands naked some little distant from the injured party who throws at him a certain number of spears, before agreed upon by the tribes assembled in conclave, the which spears he wards off by a wooden shield held by the left hand, with a waddy in the right, and it is astonishing to see the agility and cleverness manifested in evading or warding off every spear. His own tribe, as well as the tribe belonging to the aggrieved party stand around to see fair play.65

A n o t h e r c o n t e m p o r a r y observer of H u n t e r River Abor ig ines notes :

62 Thre lke ld , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1, p. 5 6 .

63 Howitt, Native Tribes of South Eastern Australia, p. 5 7 2 .

64 William Walker to the Reverend R. Watson , 26 N o v e m b e r 1 8 2 1 , P a r r a m a t t a , BTM B o x 1040 , Mitchell Library, Sydney. Five Islands is close to Wol longong , south o f Sydney.

65 Thre lke ld , Australian Reminiscences, vol. 1. pp. 60-1.

21

The Lycett Album

The Watercolours

Trial, engraving in John Heaviside Clark, Field Sports &c. &c. of the Native Inhabitants of New South Wales, plate [8]

When a Black has committed any offence against his own tribe such as stealing a gin [an Aboriginal woman] from one o f the same tribe he is compelled by the other blacks to undergo a punishment—he is placed in the middle o f the whole tribe of black fellows who form a circle at some distance round him. Each black then throws a certain number of spears or boomerangs at the culprit proportionate to the offence of which he has been guilty.66

John Heaviside Clark took the same subjec t for o n e of the engravings in his Field Sports. His Trial

shows a young warrior de fend ing h i m s e l f against a similar ons laught .

An Aboriginal Funeral (plate 2 0 ) descr ibes the p e r f o r m a n c e of burial rites. H e r e Lycet t shows a

g roup of m o u r n e r s carrying a body wrapped in bark towards a grave. The scene is loca ted nea r Sou th

H e a d in Sydney. The Macquar i e L igh thouse , buil t dur ing G o v e r n o r Macqua r i e ' s adminis t ra t ion, toge the r

with the flags of the naval e s tab l i shment bes ide it, is just visible in the uppe r r ight of the compos i t ion .

T h e rituals associated with dea th and with m o u r n i n g are widely discussed in c o n t e m p o r a r y

sources . Col l ins , for e x a m p l e , presents a deta i led a c c o u n t of the funerary cus toms of the Sydney peop le

66 A n o n y m o u s manuscr ip t describing the sett lement on the H u n t e r River, and the Aborigines of the district, in the period 1815—29, in the papers of John D u n m o r e Lang , vol. 1, p. 6 4 .

25

in which he notes : 'Their young peop l e they cons ign to the grave; those who have passed the middle age

are burnt ' . 6 7 T h i s suggests that the deceased person in Lycet t ' s drawing was young.

Col l ins also descr ibes the t ranspor ta t ion of the body to the grave in a m a n n e r that accords with

what we see in Lycet t ' s s cene . H e descr ibes the lifting of the body and its p l a c e m e n t on the heads of two

men , and notes : 'Some of the assistants had tufts of grass in thei r hands , which they waved backwards and

forwards u n d e r the c a n o e , while it was lifting from the g round , as if they were exorc i s ing some evil spirit ' . 6 8

T h e prac t ice of waving tufts of grass a round the corpse is dep ic ted in the watercolour .

T w o figures are dis t inguished from the o the r s by the m a n n e r in which thei r bod ies are painted;

the bod ies of the young man and chi ld in the left middle g round are dot ted with white paint . T h e s e peop le

are likely to be c lose relatives of the dead person for, as Col l ins notes , special paint was appl ied to the

bod ies of m o u r n e r s c lose to the deceased : 'Cole -be and Wat-te-wal were pa in ted red and white over the

breas t and shoulders , and on this occas ion were dis t inguished by the title of Moo-by; and we l ea rned from

them that while so dis t inguished they were to be very sparing in their meals ' . 6 9

Lycet t ' s a lbum is an impor t an t visual r e c o r d of the life of Abor ig ina l peop le in coastal New South Wales

dur ing the early co lon ia l per iod . The artist 's in teres t in p resen t ing a deta i led a c c o u n t of Aboriginal land

use, of the d e f e n c e of the land against the Europeans , as well as of the c e r e m o n i e s sur rounding everyday

life, provides ev idence that E u r o p e a n s regarded ind igenous cul ture seriously. Whi le appl icat ion of the

pr inc ip le of Terra Nullius impl ied that the land that had b e e n co lon i sed had never b e e n o c c u p i e d , and

that Abor ig ines were no t p repa red to de fend it, mater ia l in Lycet t ' s p ic tures and in the pictures of other

artists, such as those of the First F lee t , make it c lea r that this was no t the case . The Awabakal peop le of

the nor th coas t of New Sou th Wales are shown fishing, hun t ing and defend ing thei r r ight to do so in the

face of E u r o p e a n intrusion.

In compar i son with the rest of his oeuvre and with the work of other artists p roduced in the third

d e c a d e of the n i n e t e e n t h century, the imagery in these watercolours is unusual . By 1820 the main c o n c e r n

of most E u r o p e a n artists working in Australia was to descr ibe the progress of E u r o p e a n se t t l ement . In

most of the work of this per iod, Abor ig ines take second place to Europeans in pictorial compos i t ions . In

the work of John Lewin, G e o r g e Evans and John Eyre, we see the land inhab i ted by E u r o p e a n s and the re

is little in teres t in descr ib ing Abor ig ina l life and cul ture . In most of the work of the per iod , Abor ig ines

67 Collins, Account, 1798 , p. 601.

68 Ibid., p. 603.

69 Ibid., p. 605.

26

The Lycett Album

are located on the edge of compositions as exotic staffage. Indeed, much of Lycett's work emphasises the impact of European habitation on the land.

Lycett's focus on Aboriginal life and culture may be accounted for by the peculiar circumstances of his life. His period of detention at Newcastle probably provided him with direct contact with the Aboriginal people of the area and this enabled him to provide imagery which is resonant with descriptive material in the narratives of observers such as Threlkeld. His subsequent experience as an artist in the employment of Governor Macquarie following his return to Sydney presented him with the opportunity to observe the work of other artists, possibly in the records of the government and, almost certainly, in published sources. Collins's Account and Clark's Field Sports were published and presumably accessible to the artist. This would account for some of the similarities, which have been noted, between Lycett's work and that of earlier artists.

The album contains some of the few visual representations of the indigenous people of the Newcastle area produced in the early colonial period by a European artist. The watercolours are extremely valuable, both as works of art and as rare historical documents. The lively interest in Australian material enabled Lycett to publish his Views in Australia on his return to England. He may have intended to publish the watercolours contained in the National Library's album but was unable to find the means to do so. Their reproduction in this volume achieves what an engraved edition of the watercolours would have done in the artist's lifetime—presents these important works to a wider audience.

Jeanette Hoorn

I wish to acknowledge the assistance of the staffs o f the Pictorial collection of the National Library of Australia, the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, the Fort Scratchley Museum, Newcastle, and the North Library, British Library, with research undertaken in the preparation of the material contained in this book. I especially wish to thank Elizabeth Bilney, Charles Ferrall, Theo Hoorn, Joan Kerr, Carol Miller and Dana Rowan for the many helpful suggestions which they made in the course of the research and writing of the manuscript.

The Watercolours

Acknowledgments

27

References

Barnard, Marjorie, The Life and Times of Captain John Piper, Sydney, 1939. Bigge, Thomas, Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry into the Stale of the Colony of New South. Wales, London, 1822.

Bonyhady, Tim, 'Augustus Earle' in Australian Colonial Paintings in the, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, 1986, pp. 92-5.

Butlin, Noel, Our Original Aggression: Aboriginal Populations of Southeastern Australia 1788-1850, Sydney, 1983.

Clark, John Heaviside, Field Sports, &c. &c. of the Native Inhabitants of New South Wales, London, 1813.

Collins, David, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales: With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, &c. of the Native Inhabitants of that Country, [vol. 1], London, 1798.

Collins, David, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, From its First Settlement, in January 1788, to August 1801: With Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners, &c. of the Native Inhabitants of that Country, vol. 2, London, 1802.

Craig, Clifford, 'Lycett's Views in Australia in Old Tasmanian Prints, Launceston, 1964, pp. 39-62.

Dixon, Robert, The Course of Empire: Neo-Classical Culture in New South Wales, 1788-1860, Melbourne, 1986.

Enright, W.J., 'The language, weapons and manufactures of the Aborigines of Port Stephens, New South Wales' in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales for 1900, vol. 34, pp. 103-18.

Enright, W.J. 'The Kattang (Kutthung) or Worimi: An Aboriginal tribe', Mankind, vol. 1, no. 4, March 1932, pp.' 75-7.

Hoorn, Jeanette, 'Joseph Lycett: The pastoral landscape in early colonial Australia', Art Bulletin of Victoria, no. 26, 1984, pp. 4-13.

Hoorn, Jeanette and Elizabeth Imashev, 'Joseph Lycett' in Joan Kerr, Dictionary of Australian Artists (in preparation).

Howitt, A.W., The Native Tribes of South Eastern Australia, London, 1904.

Lang, John Dunmore, Papers 1823-87, A-2221, Mitchell Library, Sydney.

Lycett, Joseph, Views in Australia or New South Wales, & Van Diemen's Land Delineated, in Fifty Views, with Descriptive Letter Press, London, 1824-25.

McDonald, Patricia R. and Barry Pearce, The Artist and the Patron: Aspects of Colonial Art in New South Wales, Sydney, 1988.

Oxley, John, Journals of Two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales, 1817-18, London, 1820.

29

30

The Lycett Album Reynolds, Henry, The Law and the Land, Melbourne, 1987.

Reynolds, Henry, The Other Side of the Frontier, Townsville, 1981.

Rienits, Rex and Thea, Early Artists of Australia, Melbourne, 1963. The Skottowe Manuscript: Thomas Skottowe's Select Specimens from Nature of the Birds, Animals, &c. &c. of New South

Wales, commentary and facsimile volumes, ed. Tim Bonyhady, Sydney, 1988.

Smith, Bernard, and Alwynne Wheeler, eds, The Art of the First Fleet & Other Early Australian Drawings, Melbourne, 1988.

Threlkeld, L.E., Australian Reminiscences & Papers of L.E. Threlkeld, Missionary to the Aborigines, 1824-1859, 2 vols, ed. Niel Gunson, Canberra, 1974.

The Plates

1 An Aborigine Climbing a Tree by Cutting Steps in the Trunk

2 Aborigine Climbing a Tree with Two Aborigines Sitting beside a Fire, Others Spearing Birds

3 Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds

4 A Distant View of Sydney and the Harbour, Captain Piper's Naval Villa at Fliza Point on the Left,

in the Foreground a Family of Aborigines

5 Fishing by Torchlight, Other Aborigines beside Camp Fires Cooking Fish

6 A Contest with Spears, Shields and Clubs

7 Two Aborigines Spearing Eels

8 Aborigines Feeding from Beached Whales

9 Aborigines Hunting Kangaroos

10 A Family of Aborigines Taking Shelter during a Storm

11 Croup of Aborigines with Shields and Spears

12 Aborigines Resting by a Camp Fire near the Mouth of the Hunter River, Newcastle, NSW

13 Corroboree around a Camp Fire

14 Aborigines Spearing Fish, Others Diving for Crayfish; a Party Seated beside a Fire Cooking Fish

15 Two Aborigines Hunting Emus

16 Aborigines with Spears Attacking Europeans in a Rotving Boat

17 Aborigines Using Fire to Hunt Kangaroos

18 Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds in the Rushes

19 An Aborigine Warding off Spears with a Shield

20 An Aboriginal Funeral

Plate 1 An Aborigine Climbing a Tree by Cutting Steps in the Trunk 27.6 x 17.7 cm R5673

Plate 2 Aborigine Climbing a Tree with Two Aborigines Silling beside a Fire, Others Spearing Birds 27 x 17.5 cm R5674

Plate 3 Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds 17.5 x 27.7 cm R5675

Plate 4 A Distant View of Sydney and the Harbour, Captain Piper's Naval Villa at Eliza Point on the Left in the Foreground a Family of Aborigines 17.5 x 27.7 cm R5676

Plate 5 Fishing by Torchlight, Other Aborigines beside Camp Fires Cooking Fish 17.5 x 28 cm R5677

Plate 6 A Contest with Spears, Shields and Clubs 17.6 x 27.8 cm R5678

Plate 7 Two Aborigines Spearing Eels 17.5 x 27.7 cm R5679

Plate 8 Aborigines Feeding from Beached Whales 1 7 . 7 x 2 7 . 8 cm R5680

Plate 9 Aborigines Hunting Kangaroos 1 7 . 5 x 2 7 . 8 cm R5681

Plate 10 A Family of Abmigines Taking Shelter during a Storm 1 7 . 6 x 2 7 . 6 cm R5682

Plate 11 Group of Aborigines with Shields and Spears 1 7 . 6 x 2 7 . 8 cm R5683

Plate 12 Aborigines Resting by a Camp Fire near the Mouth of the Hunter River, Newcastle, NSW 17.6 x 27.7 cm R5684

Plate 13 Corroboree around a Camp Fire 17.7 x 27.7 c m R 5 6 8 5

Plate 14 Aborigines Spearing Fish, Others Diving for Crayfish; a Party Seated beside a Fire Choking Fish 17.7 x 28 cm R.5686

Plate 15 Two Aborigines Hunting Emus 1 7 . 6 x 2 7 . 8 cm R5687

Plate 16 Aborigines with Spears Attacking Europeans in a Rowing Boat 17.5 x 27.9 cm R5688

Plate 17 Aborigines Using Fire to Hunt Kangaroos 17.5 x 27.8 cm R5689

Plate 18 Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds in the Rushes 17.5 x 27.6 cm R5690

Plate 19 An Aborigine Warding off Spears with a Shield 1 7 . 6 x 2 7 . 7 cm R5691

Plate 20 An Aboriginal Funeral 17.5 x 27.7 cm R5692