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Nouvelle-Hollande, Nouvelle Galles du Sud, vue de la partie meridionale de la ville de Sydney, capitale des colonies anglaises aux terres australes et de l'embouchure de la riviere de Parramatta 1803
Nouvelle-Hollande, Nouvelle Galles du Sud, vue de la partie meridionale de la ville de Sydney, capitale des colonies anglaises aux terres australes et de l'embouchure de la riviere de Parramatta 1803

Nouvelle-Hollande, Nouvelle Galles du Sud, vue de la partie meridionale de la ville de Sydney, capitale des colonies anglaises aux terres australes et de l'embouchure de la riviere de Parramatta 1803

Artist (1778-1846)
Engraver (1767-1814)
Date1807
Object number00004992
NameEngraving
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 350 x 525 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis early view depicts Sydney from the 1802 camp of Baudin's expedition at Bennelong Point. His ship GEOGRAPHE is careened on the shore. Engraved in 1807 after the original work by expedition artist Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, the view shows the state of the colony 20 years after the arrival of Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet in Sydney Cove. The engraving titled 'Nouvelle-Hollande, Nouvelle Galles du Sud, vue de la partie meridionale de la ville de Sydney, capitale des colonies anglaises aux Terres Australes et de l'embouchure de la riviere de Parramatta, 1803'.History'Vue de la partie de la Ville de Sydney Capitale des Colonies Anglaises aux Terres Australes' - View of the centre of the city of Sydney, capital of the English colonies in the Southern Lands (also known as Mrs King's View). Engraved by Victor Pillemont, finished by Marie-Alexandre Dupare under the direction of J Milbert from an original painting by C A Lesueur completed in 1802. Printed in France in 1807 by Langlois. This engraving offers a view of Sydney and Sydney Cove from Bennelong Point. Buildings featured (left to right) include the military barracks (far left, on the hill), the Granary, clock tower (1798-1804), military windmill, the New Goal, Hospital Wharf, the Hospital, the first Government windmill (Fort Phillip), the Government Dockyard, Nicholas Bayly's House, Campbell's house and Store. Nicolas Baudin sailed from France in command of the ships GEOGRAPHE and NATURALISTE on a scientific expedition to Australia in October 1800. Baudin had previously served in the merchant marine, French Navy (during the American War of Independence), French East India Company and for the Austrian Emperor, Joseph II. He had acquired a reputation as an amateur naturalist after returning from Puerto Rico with a splendid collection of natural specimens in 1797. Based on this success, Baudin proposed a scientific expedition to New Holland. Apart from the scientific interests of the expedition, Baudin planned to survey parts of the Australian coast - particularly those areas as yet only poorly charted. The great French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville was an influential supporter of the expedition and his son Hyacinthe served as a midshipman aboard the GEOGRAPHE. Command of the NATURALISTE was given to Jacques-Felix Hamelin. While Baudin was given command, he had little control over the selection of scientists and officers, and shipboard tensions were exacerbated by a very slow passage from France to Mauritius. Morale plummeted and several of the officers left the expedition at Mauritius. In May 1801 the expedition reached Cape Leeuwin (WA). Baudin's instructions were to sail south to Tasmania, but with winter approaching, he chose instead to commence surveying north along the west Australian coast - discovering and naming Geographe Bay in the process. The GEOGRAPHE and NATURALISTE separated with Hamelin undertaking a survey of Shark Bay. The two ships only reunited at Timor. In November the expedition sailed south into the Indian Ocean and then east to Tasmania - arriving there in January 1802. Over the next three months the expedition surveyed much of Bass Strait and the south coast of Australia. Baudin's survey coincided with that of Matthew Flinders in the INVESTIGATOR and an encounter between the two men took place on 8 April 1802 at a place now named Encounter Bay. The period in Tasmania produced a wealth of new geographic information, and the expedition scientists collected abundant natural history specimens, and made important records of the indigenous Tasmanians (Peron producing a study of the Aborigines of Maria Island). During the survey the GEOGRAPHE and NATURALISTE had acted separately but rendezvoused in Port Jackson in June 1802. At Port Jackson Baudin bought a smaller vessel, the CASUARINA to replace the slow and cumbersome NATURALISTE which was then sent home to France. Over the following year the expedition surveyed more of Bass Strait, King Georges Sound, and the Australian north coast around Bathurst and Melville islands. In August 1803 the expedition returned to Mauritius where Baudin died on 16 September. Charles-Alexandre Lesueur depicted the colony of New South Wales during Baudin's expedition. He shows the settlement including a hospital, walled perimeters, a prison capable of holding 200 prisoners, a Government warehouse and main town square.SignificanceThis engraving represents one of the earliest depictions of the colony of Sydney, demonstrating French interest in Britain's colonisation of New Holland.