First Fleet artwork collection

Drawing of a bird in right profile, perched on a tree stump against a plain background. The bird is predominantly coloured in grey and brown overlaid with hatched lines in darker tones, with pink feet. The underparts are grey except for a brown patch on the throat, and the upperparts brown, except for the top of the head which is grey, and the wing, which has black-edged primaries and off-white patches with traces of what appears to be gold paint. The tree stump is coloured pale fawn and grey, shaded with contour-like brush marks to the left. 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 bottom "PIGEON of PORT-JACKSON" - Natural Size - GEO: RapeR. 1789 -".
• The drawing is signed "GEO: RapeR" and dated 1789.
• The drawing is inscribed in pencil at bottom left with the number "46", bottom right "45" and on the reverse "32".
• The bird was identified by Hindwood (1964) as the Brush Bronzewing Pigeon Phaps elegans.
• 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 15146
• Miss Eva Godman donated 1962
• Data sheet available.
• 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.