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'Quail shooting, Jones' Hill, Challicum', c1850

This is a watercolour by Duncan Cooper that shows quail shooting at Jones' Hill at Challicum, a sheep run west of Ballarat in western Victoria. It depicts two men with shotguns and two hunting dogs, which may be pointers, crossing a low plateau. The man in front has taken aim and appears to have just discharged his rifle. ...

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'Rapid Bay, encampment of Yankalilla blacks', 1847

This is a hand-coloured lithograph made in 1847 by James William Giles (1801-70) from a watercolour by George French Angas (1822-86), measuring 35.8 cm x 53.2 cm. It depicts a group of five Indigenous Australian men and a boy holding a spear on the beach at Rapid Bay, South Australia. They are sitting and lying in front ...

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'Relics of convict discipline', c1911-15

This is a sepia-toned black-and-white photograph (3.7 cm x 8.8 cm) showing items used to discipline or control convicts at Port Arthur. The collection, most of which is hanging on a wood-panelled wall, includes leg-irons, a ball and chain, handcuffs, whips (one of them a cat-o'-nine-tails), rifles and a sword. Text at the ...

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'Resolution' and 'Adventure' medal

This is a bronze medal that was made for distribution during Captain James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific. The principal side depicts the King's head with the script 'GEORGE III KING OF GREAT BRITAIN FRANCE AND IRELAND ETC' around the edge. On the other side, the ships 'Resolution' and 'Adventure' are shown and named, ...

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'Sale of a mokomokai', 1864

This is a watercolour painting created by British soldier Horatio Gordon Robley (1840-1930) in 1864. It shows a Mäori chief in European dress with a moko (skin marking) on his face, holding what appears to be a mere (short flat club). To his left, on the ground, is a mokomokai (severed, dried, marked human head). The chief ...

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'Sergeants Freehold Quartz Gold Mining Company's claim, Redan, Ballarat', 1881

This is a pen, ink and watercolour drawing, measuring 43.5 cm x 55 cm, of Sergeants Freehold Quartz Gold Mining Company's claim at Redan, Ballarat. It was drawn in 1881 by T G Moyle, a gold fields artist working in the 1880s and 1890s. Extensive mine buildings are spread over a wide area, but dwarfed by a huge pile of quartz. ...

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'Sheep station in the forest, Challicum, 1843'

This is a watercolour by Duncan Cooper that shows a sheep out-station in the forest at Challicum, a sheep run west of Ballarat in western Victoria. It depicts a slab hut set among red gums ('Eucalyptus camaldulensis'). A watchman is standing in front of the hut, and on the left of the painting is a sheepfold (enclosure) ...

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'Sheep station on the plains, Challicum, 1843'

This is a watercolour by Duncan Cooper that shows a sheep out-station on the plains at Challicum, a sheep run west of Ballarat in western Victoria. A slab hut is depicted in the foreground, while in the distance is a shepherd with his dog and flock. The shepherd's watchbox and the hurdles (portable fences) used to contain ...

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'Slavery as it exists in America. Slavery as it exists in England', 1850

This is a black-and-white print showing two contrasting scenes of 'slavery' produced by J Haven of Boston, USA. The top scene shows African American slaves in the US southern states dancing and playing the banjo after their day's work is over. The bottom scene shows four episodes of people lamenting the 'slavery' of work ...

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'Southern Cross' above Sydney Harbour Bridge, 1931

This is a 1931 gelatin silver-toned composite photograph measuring 32 cm x 25.5 cm, produced by Hall and Co. It shows Charles Kingsford Smith's monoplane, the 'Southern Cross', flying over the partially constructed Sydney Harbour Bridge, escorted by a biplane. The view is from the north-west, probably McMahons Point, and ...

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'Splitters', 1865

This is a coloured print, measuring 19.4 cm x 25.2 cm, by the famous colonial artist Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), published in 'The Australian Sketchbook' in 1865. It shows two splitters cutting slabs from the felled trunk of a tree using wedges and mallets. A bullock dray stands nearby, stacked high with slabs, and the ...

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'Te Whiti's bank, Parihaka', c1887

This is a black-and-white photograph from Parihaka, Taranaki taken around 1887. Traditional Mäori whare or houses surround a bank built in European-style architecture, using painted, sawn timber and with foundations, a cross gable tiled roof with finials, and a covered balcony with a balustrade at the front. A man is leaning ...

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'The abolition of the slave trade', 1792

This is a hand-coloured cartoon print showing an African girl being hoisted by the ankle for a flogging on board the British slaving vessel Recovery. The vessel's captain John Kimber is seen on the left, whip in hand. The cartoon was drawn by Isaac Cruikshank and published by S W Fores in London on 10 April 1792. The alternative ...

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'The blowing up of the Boyd', 1889

This is an oil painting on canvas by the artists John Louis Steele and Kennett Watkins, painted in 1889. It depicts the destruction of the sailing vessel 'Boyd' by Mäori in Whangaroa harbour (far north of the North Island of New Zealand) in 1809. There are four Mäori waka (canoes) present. A waka in the foreground shows ...

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'The claim disputed', c1852

This is a watercolour, measuring 19.4 cm x 25.4 cm, by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), a famous colonial artist. It shows a well-dressed man - presumably the Gold Commissioner - arbitrating a dispute over a claim involving three diggers, probably on the Victorian gold fields. Two of the diggers are in animated discussion ...

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'The dawn of art', 1880s

This is a set of six drawings by the Aboriginal artists Ilontereba, Mindilpilpil and Billiamook. The set is prominently titled 'THE DAWN OF ART' with smaller text stating that it shows 'Original Sketches and Drawings by Aboriginal Natives of the Northern Territory of South Australia executed without the aid of a master. ...

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'The day of Jubelo', 1865

This is a black-and-white photographic print of a painting by Edmund Birckhead Bensell showing African Americans, probably freed slaves, dancing, drinking, making music and sliding down the banister in a large house in the US south. The print is attached to a cardboard mount. The printed caption gives the title and includes ...

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'The new rush', 1865

This is a coloured print, measuring 19.4 cm x 25.2 cm, by the famous colonial artist Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), published in 'The Australian Sketchbook' in 1865. It shows a gold rush scene, probably in Victoria, with a stream of prospectors travelling along a dirt road. Several are walking beside their horses and heavily ...

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'The order of the bath', 1917

This is a black-and-white photograph showing the photographer's wife, Maud Adkin, bathing their daughter, Nancy, in a washing tub on the veranda of their farm, Woodside, near Levin in the Horowhenua (North Island, New Zealand). A wooden chair with a towel draped over it stands behind them and a bar of soap is on the floor ...

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'The parting - "Buy us too"', 1863

This is a colour lithographic card showing a shackled slave being taken away by his new owner as his wife and child beg to be bought as well so the family would not be separated. The owner gestures them away with his whip. The card was the fourth in a collectable series of 12 album cards entitled 'The slave in 1863. A thrilling ...