News & Views item - September 2005 |
First Fleet Artwork Collection from the Natural History Museum in London. (September 12, 2005)
Some 600 drawings and paintings of the landscape and natural history of Australia rendered by artists who landed with the First Fleet at Sydney Harbour in 1788 are now available online at the website of the Natural History Museum of London.
Below we reproduce the opening page to the virtual exhibit.
Home The Collections Natural History Ethnography Topography History Search The Art of the First Fleet
On 13 May 1787 eleven ships, now commonly referred to as The First Fleet, set sail from Portsmouth to establish a colony in New South Wales, Australia. They reached their destination on 18 January 1788, 18 years after Captain James Cook had first landed on the east coast of Australia at Botany Bay. One of the unplanned but long-lasting outcomes of this event was the large number of outstanding drawings of aboriginal people, the environment and wildlife found on arrival as well as of the early foundation of the colony.
Drawings have been arranged under four themes:
This reflects the fact that closely related drawings are to be found in the three different collections that make up the Natural History Museum Library's 'First Fleet Collection'.
For any queries about the content of this site, please contact the Natural History Museum Library.