First Fleet artwork collection

Drawing of a mammal facing right, depicted as if seen from above against a plain background. Its legs are spread-eagled to display the loose skin at its sides and it has a long tail. It is coloured grey-brown, darker on the tail, towards the spine and the sides, which are edged with grey. The paint appears to have been applied quite drily, with superimposed lines of grey and black creating the effect of long fur.

• Port Jackson Painter]
• The drawing is unsigned and undated.
• The drawing is inscribed in brown ink at the bottom left corner with the number "93" on its side, and on the reverse "92". These refer to the pre-1984 numbering system for the Port Jackson Collection.
• The drawing is window mounted in cream paper which is inscribed in pencil at top right with the number "47".
• The drawing appears to be an almost exact copy of the mammal named as the "Hepoona Roo" in John White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales (1790), where it is described by Dr. John Hunter but not given a scientific name, and illustrated with an engraving after an original by C. Catton (plate 61).
• The mammal has more recently been identified by John Calaby in Wheeler and Smith (1988) as the Yellow-bellied Glider, Petaurus australis.
• 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 12647
• Sir Joseph Banks bequest 1827
• Data sheet available.
• White, John. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales. J. Debrett, London, 1790.
• 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.