Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Image Not Available for Landfall, Moreton Bay
Landfall, Moreton Bay
Image Not Available for Landfall, Moreton Bay

Landfall, Moreton Bay

Artist (English - Australian, 1817 - 1894)
Date1848
Object number00016476
NamePainting
MediumWatercolour with gouache on paper.
DimensionsOverall: 137 × 225 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection
DescriptionA watercolour by Oswald Brierly titled 'Landfall, Moreton Bay', 1848. Brierly accompanied Captain Owen Stanley on his scientific voyage on board HMS RATTLESNAKE. Label on the back of the frame written by the vendor reads: 'Brierly accepted the invitation of Captain Owen Stanley to join him as his guest on HMS RATTLESNAKE for a survey of the Great Barrier Reef, the Louisedale Archipelago and part of the New Guinea coast. They sailed from Sydney on the 29th April 1848'.HistoryOswald Brierly was born in Chester, England in 1817 and after studying art and navigation he came to Australia on Benjamin Boyd's yacht WANDERER. Brierly managed Boyd's whaling station at Twofold Bay from 1842 until 1848 when he made a two year voyage with Captain Owen Stanley on HMS RATTLESNAKE recording surveys of the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait, parts of New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago. Brierly returned to Sydney in 1848 and then sailed with Henry Keppel on HMS MEANDER to New Zealand, Tahiti, South America and Britain. Brierly visited Australia again in 1867-1868 when he accompanied the first Royal visit of HRH Prince Alfred Duke of Edinburgh on HMS GALATEA during its royal tour. Brierly exhibited with the Royal Academy between 1839 and 1872 when he was elected to the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours.SignificanceThe journey by the RATTLESNAKE is one of the lesser known voyages of exploration of the Australian coast but Oswald Brierley’s sketches serve as a reminder of the years the survey took and the vast distances covered.