Grass tree, Xanthorrhoea australis
Port Jackson Painter
Watercolour and ink, c1788 - 1797, © Natural History Museum
Watling collection
Resin from the grass tree was an important base material in the manufacture of weapons, tools and other implements.
The resin could be heated and melted, and then set hard when cooled. It could be used to connect stone axe-heads to wooden handles and spear tips to their shafts. A sweet drink was made from the plant’s flowers.
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'View of the East side of Sidney Cove, Port Jackson; from the Anchorage'
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Waratah, Telopea speciosissima
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Banksia flower, Banksia sp
Port Jackson Painter, Watling collection
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Diamond python, Morelia spilota
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Yellow-tailed black cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus funereus
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Eastern gray kangaroo, Macropus giganteus and grass tree, Xanthorrhoea sp
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Bi-Gong
Thomas Watling, pencil, 1792–1797
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Balloderree
Port Jackson Painter, Watling collection, watercolour and...
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Fishing scene with Aboriginal implements
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Toolbox
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The Art of the First Fleet book
Enjoy rare watercolours, ink and pencil drawings and some of the only visual records of the lives of the indigenous Eora people of Australia.
These beautiful illustrations, by artists on board the First Fleet, document the sights witnessed by the first Europeans to colonise Australia.