Harden Sidney Melville (1826 - 1894)

Melville was a painter who also conducted the first official hydrographic survey of the north-east coast of Australia in 1842-46. He regretted this time given up from the regular practice of painting profession. Son of of the London engraver, lithographer and watercolour painter Henry Melville (1826-41).

Splendid visions of the South Pacific acquired from reading Captain Cook’s Voyages as a boy, induced him to accept the position of draughtsman on board HMS Fly in 1841. Under the command of Captain Francis Price Blackwood, Fly and her tender Bramble conducted the first official hydrographic survey of the north-east coast of Australia in 1842 46.