First Fleet artwork collection

A view of Government House with outbuildings and gardens, depicted as if seen from an elevated position. The Government buildings and gardens are contained within pale wooden fences, in front of uncultivated land with trees painted in darker tones, with two smaller houses to the right. Government House itself is portrayed as a symmetrical building, two storeys high, with an arched door-frame, nine windows and a lightning conductor rising from the centre of the roof. It is constructed of pale buff-coloured stone, with a blue-grey roof. In front of it there is a walled courtyard patrolled by two soldiers carrying bayonets and protected by two cannons, with piles of cannon balls on either side of a gate. The gate leads to the surrounding pathways and lawns, which are represented by washes of grey-green and yellow-green overlaid with darker stippling. To the right of the main building there is a well and several outbuildings, including a gabled construction with blue panels which appears to be the pre-fabricated house which was brought from England to house Governor Phillip until an official residence could be built. The sky is composed of unpainted areas with washes of blue towards the top, yellow, and pink on the horizon. The drawing is framed by a triple-banded border, the central band coloured with a pink wash and the surrounding narrow bands with black. The title is inscribed in brown ink in a separate panel inside the frame at the bottom of the drawing.