Rare, early c.19th hand coloured etched view of Perth in the 1830’s taken from the vantage point of Mount Eliza.
After Major Edmund Lockyer claimed King George Sound on Christmas Day 1826, Captain James Stirling arrived in the HMS Success to explore the Swan River. They traced the river to its source and Stirling’s positive report on the soil, climate, abundance of water and harbour, encouraged the British Government to establish a colony there. Captain Charles Fremantle was then sent in the HMS Challenger to take formal possession for Britain ‘of all that part of New Holland which is not included in the Territory of New South Wales’. On 2 May 1829, Fremantle hoisted the flag on the south head of the Swan River, where Fremantle now stands. Stirling arrived on 18 June and proclaimed the foundation of Perth on 12 August. Charles Dirk Wittenoom, youngest son of Reverend John Wittenoom, arrived with his family at Fremantle on 30 January 1830. Taught drawing and painting by his father, the young Wittenoom made the drawings for these etchings before 11 April 1837, when he left Fremantle to attend school in England. Obviously a talented young painter, these historic views of Perth and Fremantle, made only ten years after settlement, are an important visual record of the fledgling colony.
References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 2819.
Kerr, J. The Dictionary of Australian Artists Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870 Melbourne 1992 : p.875.
Spartlis, A. A survey of Western Australian art from 1696. Subiaco 2008 : p.15.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 3602218
Art Gallery of Western Australia: Accession number 2012/0041
State Library Victoria: Record ID 9940421127507636
State Library New South Wales: MMS ID 991012076019702626
State Library Queensland: Record number 991103354702061
State Library South Australia: 919.41042 O.35
