First Fleet artwork collection

Drawing of a parrot in left profile perched on a tree stump against a plain background, with details of two flowering plants on either side. The bird has red underparts and head, divided by a blue line from the green back and wing, and a blue rump, all overlaid with hatched lines in darker tones. The wing has a patch of paler green where the feathers are individually outlined and shaded, and other wing feathers are shaded with black hatched lines. The tail feathers are grey overlaid with black hatched lines. The tree stump is pale brown overlaid with grey and brown contour-like lines, and shaded to the left. The flower on the left has a leafless slender green stem which terminates in two yellow flowers, each with three petals, three stamens and a three-pronged style. The base of the flower is encased in a black and brown calyx, striped in a zig-zag pattern. The plant on the right has green blade-like leaves, sheathing the stem which terminates in clusters of flowers. The flowers each have six white petals with pink tips around a two-tone pink centre, and six stamens with pink anthers. 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 "PARROT & FLOWER'S of PORT-JACKSON - Natural Size - GEO: RapeR #. 1790 ~".
• The drawing is signed "GEO: RapeR" and dated 1790.
• The drawing is inscribed in pencil at bottom left with the number "55", and on the reverse "8".
• The bird was identified by Hindwood (1964) as the King Parrot Aprosmictus scapularis. ITIS lists Alisterus scapularis as the current preferred taxonomic name for this species.
• John Calaby notes the similarity of the plants in this drawing to two separate drawings in the sketchbook by John Hunter in the National Library of Australia, Canberra. He identifies the plants as Milkmaids, Burchardia umbellata and a species of Yellow-eyed Grass, Xyris sp.. (Calaby, John (ed). The Hunter Sketchbook. Melbourne, National Library of Australia, 1989 p. 142 and 150.)
• 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 15155
• 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.