First Fleet artwork collection

Aborignal woman engaged in the act of healing a child. The two figures are seated on an irregularly shaped pale yellow rock in front of a stretch of water which is represented by a blue gradated wash overlaid with short horizontal grey brush marks. There is a headland to the right and an island on the horizon to the left. The woman is sitting on her right with her legs drawn up, holding a piece of string between her teeth and causing her gums to bleed, creating a pool of blood on the rock in front of her. The other end of the string is tied around the head of the child who sits in profile to the left of the picture, facing the woman. Both figures have black jaw-length hair, and brown skin with black marks representing cicatrices on their upper arms and chests. The sky behind them is largely unpainted except for a pink stain on the horizon and patches of blue wash towards the top. The drawing is framed by a double-banded border, with the inner band coloured with black ink. It is annotated in brown ink outside the frame.