The first engraving of a Kangaroo taken from a specimen collected at Sydney Cove and sent back with the first dispatches to England on the Alexander, printed 1789 in London.
Common name; Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Binomial name; Macropus giganteus
First described; Shaw, 1790
Distribution; Eastern Australia S.A., Vic, TAS, NSW, QLD
History of discovery & illustration:
The first illustration of a ‘Kangaroo’ drawn from an Australian species, is acknowledged as that drawn by George Stubb’s from a specimen collected at Endeavour River in 1770 by James Cook’s crew while the Endeavour was being careened. The subsequent engraving was published in 1773, in the official accounts of the voyage of the Endeavour. That iconic image captured the public’s imagination for over sixty years and was the first depiction of any Australian animal in western art.
The first sighting of a kangaroo in fact was an earlier one, by Francis Pelsaert of ‘the teeming cats‘ on 15th November, 1629 on the Abrolhos Islands where the Dutch ship, Batavia had been wrecked. The first illustration of a Macropod was made prior to the Stubb’s illustration, titled ‘Kangaron‘ and made on 15th November 1629 by Matthys Pool and described by Cornelis de Bruyn in ” Reizen over Moskovie door Persie en Indie“, 1714 but the animal depicted was not an Australian species but the Thylogale brunii (Dusky Pademelon), a Filander native to New Guinea.
From: Phillip, A. The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island; compiled from Authentic Papers, which have been obtained from the several Departments to which are added the Journals of Lieuts. Shortland, Watts, Ball and Capt. Marshall with an Account of their New Discoveries,….. London.
Collections:
British Library: Shelfmark: C.47.i.10
National Gallery Australia: NGA 2012.1466
National Library Australia: Bib ID 1165394
Royal Collection Trust: RCIN 1142204
Silent World: SF000022
State Library NSW: D Q78/26
State Library Victoria: RARELTF 994.02 P54V
References:
Crittenden, V. A Bibliography Of The First Fleet. ACT 1982 : 180
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976: 47
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 :. 1346
McCormick, T. First Views of Australia 1788-1825. Sydney: 1987
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney 1987: pp.59-64, pp.127-128, p.345-5, ill. p.63
