Australian Art History

In this article, I'd like discuss the painting I've used as the primary image on this website. It was painted in 1777 on Captain James Cook's final voyage. It shows both the Resolution and Discovery anchored in the bay, set within the Adventure Bay landscape. On 26 January, on the first stage of his third voyage to the Pacific, Cook anchored in Adventure Bay, Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania). Cook’s voyages aimed to extend British knowledge and imperial and economic potentia

In my introductory blog, I included beautiful centuries old rock art of a kangaroo from the Kimberleys, painted by an indigenous artist. In this blog, I'd like to introduce what is understood to be the first sketch of a kangaroo by a European, drawn by Sydney Parkinson, during Captain James Cook's first visit to Australia in 1770. Cook had chosen the HMB Endeavour not for its speed or ability to sail close to the wind, but for it shallow draught (the ship's keel was not far

The initial colonial expansion in NSW was to the poorer lands close to the small settlement at Sydney Cove. Wheat was grown around Sydney Town and its densely packed suburbs, and then at Ryde and Parramatta, to help meet the urgent food needs of the small population. Subsequently the richer lands of the Hawkesbury and Nepean, and the rich pasture lands about Camden were discovered - leading to settlement along the edge of the Blue Mountains on the west, opening up the distri

Whilst the rock paintings, bark and body decorations of the Aborigines all testified to their close affinity with the land, the art of the early explorers demonstrated a need to understand and make sense of this strange new country. The main purpose of early exploration, up until 1788 when the First Fleet arrived, was to seek trading opportunities, determine the resources of new lands (with a view to colonisation), survey and chart coastlines and undertake and record scienti