First Fleet artwork collection

Drawing of a bird in left profile, perched on an overhanging rocky ledge to the left. The bird is predominantly off-white with black patches around the eye and on the wing, overlaid with grey hatched lines, black crescent-shaped dotted lines to indicate the feathers on its back, and the primary wing feathers individually outlined and shaded. The tail consists of two long red feathers with black shafts. The bill is also red. The ledge on which the bird is perched is coloured with a pale brown wash overlaid with grey brush marks, while the rock face is represented by layers of grey brush marks over a fawn-coloured wash. 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. The signature and date are located in the inner band at bottom right. 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, in the outer band of the border, "TROPIC-BIRD NORFOLK ISLAND 1790 ~ 1/2 Less Natural Size #".
• The drawing is signed "GEO: RapeR.#~" at lower right in the inner band of the border, and dated 1790.
• The drawing is inscribed in pencil at lower left and right with the number "68", and on the reverse "62".
• The bird was identified by Hindwood (1964) as the Red-tailed Tropic-bird Phaethon rubricauda
• Raper was stranded on Norfolk Island following the wrecking of the Sirius on 19th March 1790, returning to Port Jackson in the Supply on 11th February 1791. An account of this time can be found in Hunter, John, An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (London, 1793), pp.171-201.
• 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 15168
• 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.