AUSTRALIAN BUSTARD

One of the few colonial era prints of the Bustard made.

Common name: Australian Bustard

Modern binomial name: Ardeotis baustralis

First described: Gray 1829

Distribution: Australia Wide. Numerous only in central and northern QLD & Kimberleys.

This image is from the last great bird series, The Birds of Australia by G. Matthew’s and is rarer than John Gould’s work on Australian birds, with only 225 sets done. It was the last series produced to use hand colouring rather than colour printed lithography for the illustrations.

First sighting and shooting 23 May 1770

All or most of the sort of land and water fowl as we saw at Botany Bay we saw here, besides these Black & White Ducks, and Bustards such as we have in England one of which we killd that weight 17 1/2 pounds which occassiones my giving this place the name of Bustard Bay. Bustard Bay, QLD James Cook