C1848

Sydney Cove. With Government House and Fort Macqua…

Artist:

Rare c.19th hand coloured lithographed view of Sydney Harbour looking from the Observatory over present day Circular Quay, Fort Macquarie on Bennelong Point and to Shark Island. Government House is shown at right and numerous ships are at shown at … Read Full Description

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S/N: SIAU-NS-007–183741

(C001)

Categories: Sydney, AUSTRALIA, TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEWS

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Details

Full Title:

Sydney Cove. With Government House and Fort Macquarie.

Date:

C1848

Artist:

Capt. Robert Westmacott (1801 - 1870)

Condition:

In good condition.

Technique:

Hand coloured lithograph with one tint

Image Size:

230mm

x 150mm

Paper Size:

370mm

x 270mm

Genuine antique
dated:

1848

Description:

Rare c.19th hand coloured lithographed view of Sydney Harbour looking from the Observatory over present day Circular Quay, Fort Macquarie on Bennelong Point and to Shark Island.

Government House is shown at right and numerous ships are at shown at anchor in the natural harbour. As shipping increased a plan was made to build a sea wall to accommodate the increased traffic. Work commenced in 1841, first on the eastern side and later on the western and southern sides (1854) after reclamation of the mudflats had been completed. The wall was cut from rock quarried on Cockatoo Island and brought to the site by boat.

From the first issue of Capt. Robert Westmacott’s, ‘Views of Australia’.

Westmacott’s description ‘This forms a very extensive view shewing many of the numerous and beautiful bays for which Port Jackson Harbour is so celebrated. The great expanse of water is beautifully broken by numerous islands, as Shark Island, Garden Island, and Pinchgut upon the latter a Fort is being constructed. Its banks are studded with villas and gardens. The defences have lately assumed a formidable aspect, a battery carrying guns of large calibre, commanding the entrance of the harbour, having been completed at Bradley’s Head. A floating light has been placed upon some dangerous rocks called the “Sow and Pigs,” enabling vessels to enter at all times. Previous to the establishment of this light, entering the harbour at night was attended with great risk. In the distance is seen the town of Sydney, showing its length and position, also the entrance of Sydney Cove.’

References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 4955
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney, 2nd ed. 2023: Vol. I, pp. 406-407

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 142223
State Library Victoria: Record ID 999671293607636

Capt. Robert Westmacott (1801 - 1870)

Artist and army officer born in England in 1801, a member of the noted Westmacott family of artists and sculptors. His uncle, Sir Richard Westmacott (1775–1856), was one of the leading British sculptors of the early nineteenth century, and the family circle included several artists of distinction. Robert pursued a military career, receiving a commission in the 4th (King’s Own) Regiment of Foot, in which he eventually attained the rank of captain.

Westmacott was posted to New South Wales in the mid-1830s, at a time when the colony was expanding rapidly and European settlement was spreading inland. He developed a talent for sketching, particularly landscapes and topographical views. During his residence in Australia he travelled through both New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), recording harbour scenes, townships, and surrounding countryside. His drawings capture Sydney Cove, Hobart Town, Parramatta, and other early colonial sites at a formative period in their development.

On his return to England, Westmacott arranged for a selection of his sketches to be published as lithographs. The resulting series, Views in Australia, appeared in London between 1838 and 1840, issued in several parts. Hand-coloured examples, marketed through subscription, presented to a British audience the landscapes, architecture, and life of the colonies. Although modest in number, these prints are regarded as significant both artistically and historically. They provide some of the earliest published pictorial records of colonial Sydney and Hobart, predating the wider circulation of works by Conrad Martens and others.

Westmacott’s work stands in the tradition of the soldier-artist, combining accurate observation with picturesque composition. His lithographs, often delicately coloured, were aimed at a metropolitan public curious about distant settlements. While not as prolific or technically refined as Martens, his views are valued for their rarity and their directness of vision. They remain important documentary sources for historians of early Australia.

Westmacott returned permanently to England after his Australian service. He does not appear to have pursued an extensive artistic career thereafter, though examples of his prints survive in major institutional collections, including the National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales. He died in 1870.

View other items by Capt. Robert Westmacott