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423725

Title
Select specimens from nature of the birds animals &c &c of New South Wales / collected and arranged by Thomas Skottowe Esqr. ; the drawings by T.R. Browne. N.S.W.
Creator
Thomas Skottowe, d. 1821
Call number
SAFE/PXA 555
Level of description
fonds
Date

1813
Type of material
Graphic Materials, Watercolours, Textual Records
Reference code
423725
Issue Copy
Digitised
Physical Description
1 album (containing 29 watercolour drawings on paper plus descriptions) - leather - 31 x 20 x 1.7 cm (drawings 24 x 26 cm. or smaller)
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Thomas Skottowe of the 73 (Highland) Regiment of Foot was Commandant of the Newcastle penal settlement from 1811 to 1814. While in Newcastle, Skottowe organised the collection and drawing of specimens for this manuscript. He was also was responsible for their arrangement and wrote the accompanying text. Reference : The Skottowe manuscript : Thomas Skottowe's select specimens from nature of the birds, animals, &c. &c. of New South Wales / ed. with an introductory essay, by T. Bonyhady & J. Calaby ; foreword by Sir D. Attenborough. Sydney : David Ell Press : Hordern House, 1988.

Richard Browne, watercolour painter and natural history artist, was transported to New South Wales after being convicted in Dublin in 1810. He served the majority of his seven-year sentence in Newcastle. Browne prepared illustrations for Skottowe's manuscript. -- Reference: Dictionary of Australian artists / Joan Kerr, editor. [Sydney] : Institute of Fine Arts, University of Sydney, 1984
Scope and Content
Frontispiece. Natives of New South Wales
[Title page with vignette of Aboriginal family group at camp]
1-2. The Emue [i.e. emu]
3-4. Mamura Superba [lyrebird]
5. The Swamp Pheasant
6. [wanting]
7-8. Nankeen Bird [rufous night heron]
9-10. The Black Swan
11-12. Star Wing [dollar bird]
13-14. Black & White Cockatoo [sulphur-crested cockatoo]
15-16. King Parrot
17-18. Rose Hill Parrot, Paroquet and Ground Parrot [eastern rosella; scaly-breasted lorikeet; ground parrot]
19. Blue Mountain and Lourie Parrots
20. [wanting]
21-22. Robbins [flame robin; eastern yellow robin]
23-24. Owl [tawny frogmouth]
25-26. The Masked Plover [masked lapwing]
27. Honey Sucker
28. [wanting]
29-30. Sparrow, Tom Tit, Fan Tail & Ant Killer [red-browed finch?; superb fairy wren; southern emu-wren; eastern spinebill or honeyeater]
31-32. Regent [regent bowerbird]
33-34. Kangaroo [eastern grey kangaroo]
35-36. Native Dog [dingo]
37-38. Native Cat [quoll]
39-40. Flying Squirrel [sugarglider]
41-42. Opussum [brushtail possum]
43-47. Fish
44. John Dory (no.1); Mullett (no.2); Flat Head (no.3)
45. Rock Cod (no.4); Gurnett (no.5); Trevaille or Cavallia (no.6); Snapper (no.7) [river blackfish; blenny; silver trevaille; snapper]
46. Groper (no.8); Parrot Fish (no.9); Unicorn Fish or Leather Jacket (no.10); Salmon (no.11) [eastern blue groper; Maori Wrasse; yellow-finned leatherjacket; eastern Australian salmon]
47. Barracouta (no.12); Leopard Shark (no.13) [longtom; banded wobbegong]
48-50. Butterflies
49. [l. to r. Macleay's swallowtail butterfly; old lady moth; common jezabel butterfly; nysa jezabel butterfly; sword-grass brown butterfly]
50. [l. to r. unidentified; unidentified; moth; tiger moth; glasswing butterfly; tiger moth; common brown butterfly; chalciope hyppasia; unidentified]
51-52. Insects
[dragonfly; longicorn beetle; tree cricket; robber-fly; cicada; leaf hopper; mantid; banksia jewel beetle; short-horned grasshopper; Christmas beetle; Botany Bay weevil; amycterine weevil; lygaeid bug; clerid beetle; shield-bug; long-horned grasshopper or tree cricket; native cockroach]
53-54. Reptiles. Brown Snake (no.1); Black (no.2); Diamond (no.3); Water (no.4); Grass (no.5)
55-56. Native Arms
Mooting or Fish Gig (no.1); Camoy or Spears (nos.2-4); Hylliman or Shield (no.5); Womra or Throwing Stick (no.6); Waddy or Battle Club (no.7); Cadgawang or ditto (no.8); Hyba or Hatchet (no.9); Wamering thrown to disperse a Crowd (no.10); Tundi or Basket (no.11); Coonoonang or Calabash, in which they carry water (no.12); Heringung or Fishing line, Wallingan or [fishing] hook (no.13); Genyang a Net (no.14); Murribe for warding off Blows of the Battle Club (no.15)
Language
Australian languages
Access Conditions

Access via appointment
Copying Conditions
Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Related Material
The Regent [bower bird], 1820 / drawn by R. Browne (872540)
Variant title

Title was formerly formatted as: Select Specimens / From Nature / of the / Birds Animals &c &c / of / New South Wales / Collected and Arranged / by / Thomas Skottowe Esqr. / The Drawings By T.R. Browne. N.S.W. / Newcastle / New South Wales / 1813
General note

Accompanying each illustration is a description of the specimen that includes physical appearance, habitat, methods of reproduction, and native name. The watercolour drawings have a yellow inner and black outer border.

Drawings are missing for The Swamp Pheasant (page 6); Blue Mountain and Lourie Parrots (page 20); Honey Sucker (page 28)

The volume was rebound in Dec. 1931. For conservation reasons, the SLNSW Preservation Branch disbound this volume in 1979. In 1998, Tony Zammit bound the drawings into new covers.

Colour photograph lithograph postcards of No.8 Nankeen Bird and No.14 Black & White Cockatoo (produced by the SLNSW) are available at PXB 188 (Nos. 5 and 4 respectively).
D.S. Mitchell bookplate on front endpaper

Copy Print - MLQ 508.944/1

Transferred from A 555
Digital order no:Album ID : 824099
Signatures / Inscriptions

Handwritten at top of title page, "Presented by / A. Cahill / To his Son Frank Cahill / Augt. 3d 1852"
Titles and descriptions of drawings are on previous page
Paper is watermarked, "Phipps & Son / 1810"
Publisher's series note

Newcastle, New South Wales, 1813.
Creator/Author/Artist
Browne, Richard, 1776-1824
Subject
Aboriginal Australians--New South Wales--Vocabulary.
David Scott Mitchell Collection.
Kangaroos--Pictorial works.
Rediscovering Indigenous Languages Project, 2011-
Art, Colonial--Australia.
Topic
Aboriginal peoples (Australians)
animals
birds
butterflies
insects
natural history illustrations
possums
zoology
Exhibited in

Wunderkammer - Newcastle Region Art Gallery
Curious Colony: a twenty first century Wunderkammer - S.H. Ervin Gallery (January 2011 - February 2011)
Treasures of Newcastle from the Macquarie Era - Newcastle Region Art Gallery (February, 2013 - May, 2013)
Living Language: Country, Culture, Community - State Library of New South Wales (July 2019 - November 2019). Applies to: Item 33-34