Charles-Alexandre Lesueur Cases de la Terre de Lewin (Géographe Bay, W.A.) 1801 (detail). Pen and ink and graphite on paper, 9.8 x 17.5 cm. State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased 2018.
See three iconic depictions of pre-Colonial Western Australia: John Sykes’ A deserted Indian village in King George III Sound, New Holland 1798, Charles-Alexandre Lesueur’s Cases de la Terre de Lewin (Géographe Bay, W.A.) 1801, and Laurel Nannup’s Old spirit of the sea 2006. Enjoy a glass of Juniper Estate wine and hear from the Gallery’s Curator of 19th Century Arts, Melissa Harpley during this AGWA after-hours event. Tour the AGWA Historical exhibition at your own pace thereafter.
A deserted Indian village in King George III Sound, New Holland 1798 – an account of Captain George Vancouver’s around-the-world expedition from 1791 to 1795 – depicts a deserted ‘village’ at King George Sound – current-day Albany. Vancouver’s midshipman John Sykes produced it ‘on the spot’.
A major pre-Colonial acquisition and small-scale gem; Charles-Alexandre Lesueur’s Cases de la Terre de Lewin (Géographe Bay, W.A.) is one of the earliest European depictions of Western Australia, dating from 1801. It depicts a Noongar campsite and fishing community, relating to explorer Nicolas Baudin’s voyage’s arrival at Vasse River near current-day Busselton.
Laurel Nannup’s Old spirit of the sea, from Duyfken: The Aboriginal Print Portfolio, commemorated 2006’s 400th anniversary of Australian-Dutch relations; the Duyfken – the first Dutch ship to land on Australian shores – landed at Cape York Peninsula in 1606. Old spirit of the sea depicts Captain Willem Janszoon and his sailors’ first encounter with Aboriginal people.
This is an after-hours event; the Gallery will be closed to the public from 5pm. Enter at 6pm via the main entrance (opposite the Urban Orchard, Perth Cultural Centre).
This event is discounted for AGWA Members.
