First Fleet artwork collection

Illustration of an aboriginal man whose hair has been matted with gum, and two implements against a plain background. At top is a paddle made of bark, pale fawn-grey in colour overlaid with grey serpentine lines. At centre is a head-and-shouldersportrait of an aboriginal man, his torso facing forwards and his head turned in profile to the left and looking slightly upwards. His hair is painted dark brown overlaid with black clumps, and his skin is dark brown with black markings representing cicatrices on his upper arms and chest. The base of the figure is underlined with black ink. At bottom is a pale red-brown basket with a narrow handle, shaded grey to the left and overlaid with grey serpentine lines. The drawing is framed by a pencil border and annotated in brown ink.

• Port Jackson Painter]
• The drawing is inscribed in blue pencil at top right with the number "73", which refers to the pre-1984 numbering system for the Watling collection.
• The drawing is annotated in brown ink at top "A paddle made of Bark", at centre "A Native his hair matted with gum, call'd in the native Language Goonat" and at bottom "A Basket made of the Knot of a Tree called Goo-lime".
• The drawing is unsigned and undated.
• The author of this catalogue record is Suzanne Stenning.
• By permission of the trustees of the Natural History Museum (London).
• Two sets of transparencies held in the Natural History Museum (London) Zoology Library and Picture Library: Picture Library order number 12064
• James Lee of Kensington : purchased ; 1902
• Data sheet available.
• Wheeler, A. and Smith, B, (eds.) The Art of the First Fleet and other early Australian Drawings. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1988. (Plate 50, p. 57.)