Round Hill Head, Bustard Bay, 1770

Artist Peter Hudson

Date2011

Object number00054549

NamePainting

MediumOil on board, framed

DimensionsDisplay dimensions: 480 × 550 × 60 mm
Overall: 480 × 550 × 60 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA painting by Peter Hudson titled 'Round Hill Head, Bustard Bay, 1770'. It depicts a view of a coastal landscape with Round Hill Head to the right and the white capped ocean in the background. On Wednesday 24 May 1770, Lieutenant James Cook anchored HMB ENDEAVOUR about 3 km off this part of the coast near Round Hill Head. Cook went ashore near Round Hill Head with botanist Joseph Banks and his assistant Daniel Solander. They found conditions ashore windy, "dry and Sandy, and the woods are free from underwoods" and despite seeing "10 Small fires in a very small Compass, and some Cockle Shells laying by them' they did not encounter any residents. HistoryThis work by Peter Hudson was produced for East Coast Encounter, a multi-arts initiative involving Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, writers and songwriters to re-imagine the encounter by Lieutenant James Cook and his crew with Indigenous people in 1770. Peter Hudson was the initiator of the East Coast Encounter concept and was a passionate advocate for the project. Cook's voyage along the Australian east coast has become central to national historical narratives. The East Coast Encounter project asked artists to re-envisage this seminal journey by imaginatively exploring moments of contact between two world views during these encounters. It also brought these events into the present by incorporating artists' reflections on their relevance today, and their responses to visits to significant contact locations. Topics such as encounter, impact, differing perspectives, nature and culture and views of country are investigated. "Hudson’s painting captures the windy conditions which Banks recorded in his journal when the explorers landed at Bustard Bay and took on fresh water. Much to Hudson’s amazement just as he was completing this work, the HMB ENDEAVOUR replica sailed around the headland on a voyage which mirrored Cook’s original journey and timing." [www.eastcoastencounter.com.au] SignificanceThis painting by Peter Hudson is significant in providing an alternate view of first contact and European occupation of Australia.