The Kangooroo.

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 in 1789 in London.

Common name; Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Binomial name; Macropus giganteus
First described; Shaw 1790
Distribution; Eastern Australia S.A., Vic, TAS, NSW and QLD.

Reference The Mammals of Australia, Strahan, 2nd edition. Page: 335-338, ill.335-337

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 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 Thylogale brunii (Dusky Pademelon), a Filander native to New Guinea.

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 1807751
State Library Victoria: Accession no: 30328102131546/12

References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 47.
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney 1987 pp.59-64, pp.127-128, p.345-5, ill. p.63..
McCormick, T. First Views of Australia 1788-1825. Sydney 1987