First Fleet artwork collection

Drawing of a fish in left profile against a plain background. The fish is of fusiform shape with a bulbous forehead. It is predominantly pink-grey in colour fading to white underneath and overlaid with grey wash and line detail of scales. The fins are pink, with the spines outlined in grey. The drawing is framed with a thick black ink line and a triple-banded border, the central band of which is coloured with a pink wash and contains the title, signature and date. Most of the outer band appears to have been lost through the drawing having been cropped.

• George Raper]
• The drawing is inscribed in black ink at the bottom "FISH of PORT JACKSON - Size - considerably Reduced GEO: RapeR.# 1789".
• The drawing is signed "GEO: RapeR" and dated 1789.
• The drawing is inscribed in pencil at bottom left and top right with the number "64", and on the reverse "66".
• The fish has been identified by Whitley (1938) as a species of Snapper.
• John Calaby notes the similarity of the drawing to one in the sketchbook by John Hunter in the National Library of Australia, Canberra. He identifies the snapper as Chrysophyrs auratus. (Calaby, John (ed). The Hunter Sketchbook. Melbourne, National Library of Australia, 1989 p. 164.) Fishbase lists Pagrus auratus as the accepted taxonomic name for this species.
• 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) General Library and Picture Library: Picture Library order number 15164
• Miss Eva Godman donated 1962
• Data sheet available.
• Whitley, G.P. 'Naturalists of the First Fleet', The Australian Museum Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 9, 1938 (pp.291-304).
• Hindwood, K.A. 'George Raper: an Artist of the First Fleet', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 50, Pt. 1, 1964 pp.32-57.