Name/TitlePlan of the Town of Sydney
About this objectThe present map is a detailed tracing from the Cockle Bay area of the plan. One of the larger properties included is numbered 77 and was held by Macarthur on a lease granted by Governor King. Bligh’s attempt to dispossess Macarthur of his leasehold and Macarthur’s refusal to forego the right to the property was one of the crucial points in the dispute that culminated in the mutiny against Bligh early in 1808 and his arrest by Lt.-Col. George Johnston. During the 1811 trial of Johnston, the survey was produced in court during the cross-examination of John Macarthur. This was either the original or a tracing of this very portion of the survey and as the original is not known to be extant, it is possible that the present tracing came from among the papers used in that trial. It is suggestive that an old pencil note (bottom centre), notes “Garden according to Whittle”, is almost certainly referring to the evidence of the illiterate Sergeant-Major Whittle, who was a witness in the Johnston trial and was, in fact, the man who ‘arrested’ Governor Bligh from under the bed.
In addition to the highly important Macarthur leasehold (no.77), included also are properties leased to Captain Waterhouse, Colonel Paterson, Lieutenant Moore, Captain Kemp and a veritable roll-call of the Sydney elite.
MakerUnknown
Date Madec1812
Period19th century
Place MadeSydney, Australia
Medium and MaterialsInk and coloured washes on tracing paper
Measurements430mm x 500mm
Object TypeMaps and Charts
Object numberSF001461
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
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The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art