Nouvelle-Hollande: Ile King. Le Wombat

Rare c.19th hand coloured engraving of a Wombat by Charles Alexander Lesueur artist onboard the French voyage of exploration under the command of Nicholas Baudin in the corvettes; Geographe and Naturalist.

The first reported sighting of a wombat was on February 1797, after the ship the Sydney Cove ran aground on Clarke Island. The crew of the salvage ship, Francis, discovered wombats on the island. A live animal was taken back to Port Jackson.  Governor John Hunter later sent the animal’s corpse to Joseph Banks at the Literary and Philosophical Society to verify that it was a new species.

Naming 26 January 1798:
‘We saw several sorts of dung of different animals, one of which Wilson called a Whom-batt, which is an animal about 20 inches high, with short legs and a thick body…’ Bargo, N.S.W. John Price.

First detailed description 25 August 1798 Letter from Hunter to Joseph Banks.

From Peron, Voyage de decouvertes aux terres australes, execute sur les corvettes le Geographe, le Naturaliste et la goelette le Casuarina, pendant les annees 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804 … Paris.

References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : F 307.
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney, 1987 : 78a, 79a, 80a, 81..
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 : 1329.

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 273719
State Library New South Wales: Z/M1 811.17/1802/4
National Gallery Victoria: Accession Number2010.96.18
Bibliotheque Nationale de France: Identifier : ark:/12148/btv1b2300134q