• Title
  View of Sullivan Cove 1804 / watercolour possibly by George William Evans
• Call number
  SV6B/Sull C/1
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1804
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Drawings
• Reference code
  441875
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  Drawings - watercolour - image 21.5 x 33.9 cm., mounted on card 23.5 x 35.9 cm. - frame lines on mount
  
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
• General note
  
  The inscription on reverse suggests the artist of this watercolour was the naval officer John Bowen (1780-1827) who arrived at Risdon Cove, 12 September 1803 in command of the `Albion'. The same picture has also been attributed to G.P. Harris from his sketch titled "Camp at Sullivan Cove, Derwent, Van Diemen's Land [1804]" held in the British Library (Harris Papers. 45156). The sketcher and surveyor, George Prideaux Robert Harris (1775-1810), arrived with William Collins, aboard the `Ocean' in February 1804 and examined the new settlement, now Hobart.
  Stylistically this watercolour suggests the artist may have been the painter, surveyor and explorer George William Evans (1780-1852). A comparison with works by Evans in the Mitchell Library Pictures Collections shows a similar style in the depiction of the border frame, small figures, the sailing ship, the trees and the rocky foreground. (see SSV1B/PARR/12 and PXD 388 v.3 f.2 & f.7). -- Curator, Original Materials Branch, Aug 2004
  The sketch by G.P. Harris is reproduced in: Letters and papers of G.P. Harris, 1803-1812 : Deputy Surveyor-General of New South Wales at Sullivan Bay, Port Phillip, and Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land / edited by Barbara Hamilton-Arnold. Sorrento, Vic. : Arden Press, 1994. p.58. The Mitchell Library also holds a photographic copy, available at: SSV6/1804/1
  See also "The first days of Hobart, Collins Camp, Sullivan's Cove, Feb 1804 (painting)" in J. W. Beattie collection of Tasmanian scenes including photographs of early paintings of Tasmania, ca. 1890 (PXA 609/68)
  For notes compiled by J.B. Walker, on the attribution and provenance of this watercolour, said to have belonged to Philip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales, see Aa 94/3. See also PXn 13 for further notes compiled by S. Mourot, Pictures Section, 1964.
  References:
  The Dictionary of Australian artists : painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870 / edited by Joan Kerr. Melbourne : Oxford University Press, 1992. (see entries for J. Bowen & G.P.R. Harris)
  Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol.1, 1788-1850. Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 1968. (see entries for J. Bowen & G.P.R. Harris)
  Digital order no:a128947
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  View of Sullivan Cove 1804 -- in pencil in later hand on reverse
  "First Establishment in the River Derwent Van Diemen's Land - by Lt. John Bowen" -- in pencil in later hand on reverse
  Also two other inscriptions now faded
• Topic
  colonial art
  sailing ships
  settlements
  tents
  
• Place
  Sullivans Cove (Hobart, Tas.)
  
• Exhibited in
  
  The coming of the strangers : life in Australia, 1788-1822 - State Library of New South Wales (20 January - 31 December, 1988)
  Mari Nawi : Aboriginal Odysseys 1790-1850 - State Library of New South Wales (September, 2010 - December, 2010)
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE3217105

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