First Fleet artwork collection

Drawing of a pelican in a seascape, with a plant and what appears to be a ship's capstan on the shore in the foreground. The bird is predominantly white overlaid with grey hatched lines, except for the wing and tail which are black. It is depicted in right profile floating on water, which is represented by washes of blue overlaid with grey brush marks in the shadows and darker horizontal hatched lines near the shore. The sky and clouds are represented by blue washes around unpainted areas. The shore in the foreground is mottled grey, blue and pink, with a barnacle-encrusted ship's capstan to the right and a plant with ovate green leaves and cream-coloured flowers with long petals towards the centre. 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 "PELLICAN & cc of PORT-JACKSON - GEO: RapeR.# - 1790 ~".
• The drawing is singed "GEO: RapeR" and dated 1790.
• The drawing is inscribed in pencil at bottom left with the number "41", at bottom right "40", and on the reverse "37".
• The bird was identified by Hindwood (1964) as the Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus. The plant appears to be a species of Orchid from the Dendrobium genus, similar to that represented in Raper Drawing number 48.
• 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 15141
• 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.