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C1803
A Western view of Toongabbe.
Artist:
Rare early c.19th engraved view of Toongabbie. In 1791 Governor Phillip appointed Thomas Daveney to select, plan and superintend a more extensive “second settlement” further up the Toongabbie Creek, about 4 km north-west of the New Grounds. Here 500 convicts, … Read Full Description
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Details
Full Title:
A Western view of Toongabbe.
Date:
C1803
Artist:
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Hand coloured copper engraving.
Image Size:
125mm
x 80mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1803
Description:
Rare early c.19th engraved view of Toongabbie.
In 1791 Governor Phillip appointed Thomas Daveney to select, plan and superintend a more extensive “second settlement” further up the Toongabbie Creek, about 4 km north-west of the New Grounds. Here 500 convicts, most of whom were newly arrived on the Third Fleet, cleared 300 acres of forest in 30 days in late 1791, burning off the timber and planting the first crop of turnips to prepare the ground for maize. A year later, in October 1792, Phillip could report that: “One thousand acres of ground are in cultivation on the public account at Parramatta and a new settlement formed about three miles to the westward of Parramatta, and to which I have given the name of Toon-gab-be, a name by which the natives distinguish the spot“.
From David Collins, An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales.
References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 263 -350.
Crittenden, V. A Bibliography Of The First Fleet. ACT 1982 69 & 70.
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 335.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 2284639
State Library New South Wales: Q79/60 v. 1
State Library Victoria: RARELTF 919.44 C69A
Thomas Watling (1762 - 1806)
Watling was a convict and artist, born in Dumfries, his parents died during his infancy and he was brought up by a maiden aunt. His education, which was well above average, obviously included a thorough grounding in art and eventually he formed his own 'academy'. In 1788 he was charged with forging guinea notes on the Bank of Scotland. He denied his guilt, but rather than risk conviction and execution he asked to be transported and was sentenced to fourteen years. In July 1791 Watling was one of 410 convicts who sailed in the convict transport the Pitt for New South Wales. He escaped at Cape Town, but was soon arrested by the Dutch, imprisoned and taken aboard the Royal Admiral, in which he reached Sydney on 7 October 1792. He appears to have been assigned almost immediately to the surgeon-general, John White, an ardent naturalist, who made extensive use of his artistic skill. When White left the colony in December 1794 it is thought that Watling may have been assigned to the judge-advocate, David Collins. Watling's prospects improved with the arrival of Governor John Hunter, himself an enthusiastic and able artist. Within a year, in September 1796 Watling was given a conditional pardon and on 5 April 1797 it was made absolute. While in the colony Watling had a son, presumably by a convict woman, and when he left Sydney he took the child with him. From 1801 to 1803 he lived in Calcutta, earning a precarious living as a miniature painter. He returned to Scotland and on 10 January 1806 was tried at Edinburgh for a series of forgeries allegedly committed at Dumfries between November 1804 and March 1805. He was discharged on a verdict of 'not proven'. Later he moved with his son to London where, in indigent circumstances and suffering from cancer of the left breast, he applied to Hunter, now an admiral, for help and received some assistance from members of the Royal Academy. Neither the date nor place of his death are known. Ref: Source ADB
