The Kanguroo.

Early c.19th engraving of the Kangaroo.

References: Olsen, Upside Down World, p.100, ill.

The first illustration of a kangaroo, was originally drawn by George Stubbs from a specimen collected in 1770 by James Cook’s crew, while the Endeavour was careened after hitting the reef near present day Cooktown, Queensland. This iconic image captured the public’s imagination for over sixty years and was the first depiction of any Australian animal in western art.

In Cook’s accounts, Joseph Banks described the first sighting on 22 June 1770, ‘The People who were sent to the other side of the water in order to shoot Pigeons saw an animal as large as a grey hound, of a mouse colour and very swift …’

Cook wrote after seeing a kangaroo on 24 June 1770, ‘I saw my self this morning a little way from the ship one of the Animals before spoke off, it was of a light Mouse colour and the full size of a grey hound and shaped in every respect like one.’

James Cook on 4 August 1770, states ‘the Animal which I have before mentioned is called by the natives Kangooroo or Kanguru.’

References; Beddie 932-20, p.935, Lennox-boyd, p.138 pl.35.III, Younger, p.47, ill.p.46

From George Shaw’s, ‘General zoology or systematic natural history .

Collections:
National Gallery Australia” Accession no: NGA 2012.1435

Modern common name: Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Modern binomial name: Macropus giganteus
First described: Shaw 1790
Distribution Eastern Australia S.A., Vic, TAS, NSW and QLD.