A non descript bird found at Botany Bay, from a drawing made on the spot 1792. The Bird measured seven Feet two Inches in height, & three Feet seven Inches in length. It approaches nearest to the Emu of South America or the Cassowary of Java / [engraving after Arthur Bowes Smyth, ca. 1792]

SV/331

fonds

[ca. 1792]

Graphic Materials, Prints

9618677

1 print - engraving in black ink on paper - 25 x 20 cm.

In February 1788, a few weeks after the arrival of the First Fleet, a convict under orders from Governor Phillip shot and killed an emu two miles from the settlement at Sydney Cove.

Lieutenant John Watts who arrived as a passenger on the Lady Penrhyn with the First Fleet, was thought to have produced the first earliest European depiction of this new exotic bird, the emu (drawing now lost). Arthur Bowes Smyth, a surgeon who also arrived on the Lady Penrhyn saw the emu when it was brought back to camp, and the drawing he made of it in his journal was reportedly copied from Watts’ drawing. Smyth's journal is held at SLNSW Safe 1/15.

In 1789 a version of Bowes Smyth’s drawing was published in Arthur Phillip's "Voyage to Botany Bay", and was mentioned under the name of the "New Holland cassowary".

By 1791 and after several iterations of the Bowes Smyth drawing based on the original by Watts, it was appearing as “A non descript bird found at Botany Bay … It approaches nearest to the Emu of South America or the Cassowary of Java”.

There have been at least three interrelated variations of Bowes Smyth’s emu drawing produced and printed between the years 1789-1792, with the composition changing slightly with each iteration. This engraving is almost identical to a 1791 version in everything except the orientation of the emu and the title text, which in the 1791 image is left-facing instead of right facing.

Unknown etcher active in England 1790s - from the Vendor.

An engraving of an early depiction of the Australian Emu, facing right, showing a curly feathered structure. The image also includes a native Xanthorrhoea plant, commonly known as the Grass Tree and small bell-shaped flowers.

The engraving is based on the drawing by Arthur Bowes Smyth, who based his drawing of the Emu by Lieutenant John Watts.

Out of copyright: Creator died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Arthur Bowes Smyth - drawings from his journal `A Journal of a Voyage from Portsmouth to New South Wales and China in the Lady Penrhyn ...', 1787-1789 Held at SLNSW: Safe 1/15

The journal of Arthur Bowes Smyth : surgeon, Lady Penrhyn, 1787-1789 / edited by Paul G. Fidlon and R. J. Ryan. Sydney : Australian Documents Library, 1979.

Titled and dated above and below image.

In the top right corner is the number '18'.