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George Raper (1769-1797) George Raper was born in 1769 and from an early age he decided to pursue a naval career. Aged thirteen, he joined the Royal Navy as a 'young gentleman' servant, and received the training necessary for a Navy career as an officer. Aged seventeen, he was promoted to Able Seaman and in 1786 he was transferred to HMS Sirius, the flagship in the First Fleet. Commanded by Arthur Phillip, HMS Sirius was the flagship of the first eleven ships that contained the convicts and marines that are now acknowledged as the founders of the European settlement of Australia. Subsequently known as the First Fleet, the ships set out from Portsmouth on 13 May 1787 to establish a colony in New South Wales. Raper was further promoted to Midshipman en-route, and in January 1788 the Fleet finally reached Botany Bay, later moving on to Port Jackson. By 1790 the colony was running short of supplies and so Governor Philip decided to send 200 convicts with some marines to Norfolk Island on HMS Sirius and HMS Supply to join convicts already there. He hoped that the conditions on the island would enable them to support themselves. Norfolk Island unfortunately was very difficult to land on and HMS Sirius was wrecked on a reef. In 1791, after eleven long months on the island, Raper was collected along with other officers and crew of HMS Sirius by HMS Supply. Arriving back in Portsmouth on the 22 April 1792, on a hired Dutch vessel the Waaksamheyd, the officers were court-martialled for the loss of the Sirius. The verdict was honourable acquittal. George Raper continued to progress through the naval ranks, culminating in the command of a cutter, the HMS Expedition, on 20 July 1796. He died in 1797 from unknown causes.
This drawing by George Raper, dated 1790, was titled Pigeon of Lord Howe Island. The island is situated in the southwest Pacific Ocean, three hundred miles east of Port Macquarie on the Australian coastline. This is the only location where the pigeon has been found. Furthermore, the species is known only from this painting, and one other very similar painting held in the Alexander Turnbull Library in New Zealand. Only brief notes about this bird exist in early records and no museum specimen exists today. George Raper indicates on his painting that the bird is shown one-third less than its natural size. Although he did not land on the island, he may have seen live birds of this sub-species which had been brought to Sydney Cove in March 1788. The bird was first scientifically described in 1915 by Gregory M. Mathews, using the painting shown here. It was then in the possession of Frederick Du Cane Godman, who named the bird (Raperia godmae) after George Raper and Godman's wife. The bird is now thought to be a sub-species and is known today as the White-throated Pigeon (Columba vitiensis godmanae). As an important record of a vanished bird this painting continues to be referred to by ornithologists and historians, most recently in a paper by C. T. Fisher and F. E. Warr (2003).
When Lord Howe Island was discovered in 1788, the pigeons were abundant. Generally brown, with a purple-mauve head and breast, and a white throat and upper neck, they were larger than a domestic pigeon. As the island had been previously uninhabited, the pigeons were very tame and naturally curious and so were easily caught in large numbers by sailors and settlers. Sadly, the White-throated Pigeon quickly became consigned to history and extinction. The last birds were seen in 1853, leaving only two paintings and a few sparse accounts to record the existence of this unique Lord Howe Island bird.
The George Raper Drawings Collection The Raper collection of drawings held at the Natural History Museum contains 72 watercolour drawings, together with a hand-coloured title-piece also by Raper. In 1987 the drawings were removed from a volume in which they had been bound, and were conserved and individually mounted. All but ten drawings have been signed by Raper. The subjects covered in the drawings include topography, ethnography, birds, fish, mammals, plants and reptiles. Some of the drawings depict nautical views of places passed or visited on the outward voyage. The majority of the drawings were carried out in New South Wales, Australia, with the others having been drawn in Norfolk Island where the Sirius had become shipwrecked.
Exhibition and publication details Fisher, C. T. & Warr, F. E. (2003) Museums on paper: library & manuscript resources. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 123A - Supplement - "Why Museums Matter: Avian Archives in an Age of Extinction: Papers from a conference…12-15 November 1999." pp.136-164. Hindwood, K. A. (1940) The Birds of Lord Howe Island. The Emu. vol. 40, pp.1-86. Hindwood, K. A. (1964) George Raper: an Artist of the First Fleet. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. 50, pp.32-57. Hutton, I. (1990) Birds of Lord Howe Island: Past and Present. Ian Hutton: Coffs Harbour Plaza, N.S.W. 154pp. Knox, A. G. & Walters, M. P. (1994) Extinct and Endangered Birds in the Collections of the Natural History Museum. (British Ornithologists' Club occasional publications; No.1). British Ornithologists' Club for the Natural History Museum: Tring. 292pp. Mathews, G. M. (1915) Raperia godmanae: a new bird from Lord Howe Island, now extinct. The Austral Avian Record, vol. 3, no.1, pp. 21-24. Mathews, G. M. (1928) The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant: with additions to The Birds of Australia etc. London. 139pp. In addition a detailed catalogue record for the drawing can be found by searching the Natural History Museum Library Catalogue.
References and further reading Chester, Q. & McGregor, A. (1997) Australia's Wild Islands. Hodder & Stoughton: Rydalmere, NSW. 276pp. First Fleet OnLine http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/ (Accessed 01/09/03) The George Raper Collection http://www.nla.gov.au/exhibitions/georgeraper/ (Accessed 16/09/03) This online exhibit at the National Library of Australia gives background information on George Raper and describes a George Raper collection held at the NLA. Hoyo, J. del & Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (eds) (1997) Handbook of the Birds of the World: Volume 4 Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona. 679pp. Hunter, J. and Calaby, J. H. (eds) (1989) The Hunter Sketchbook: Birds and Flowers of New South Wales drawn on the spot in 1788, 89 & 90. National Library of Australia: Canberra. 251pp. Recher, H. F. & Clark, S. S. (eds) (1974) Environmental Survey of Lord Howe Island: a Report to the Lord Howe Island Board. The Australian Museum: Sydney. 86pp. Smith, B. & Wheeler, A. (eds) (1988) The Art of the First Fleet, and Other Early Australian Drawings. Oxford University Press, in association with the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and the BM(NH): Melbourne; Oxford. 256pp. White, J. & Rienits, R & Chisholm, A. H. (ed) (1962)
Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales..Sydney: Angus
and Robertson in association with the Royal Australian Historical
Society, 1962. 282pp.
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