Name/TitlePrinted subscription receipt – Bank of New South Wales
About this objectFounded in Sydney on 8th April 1817 and launched under the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie, the Bank of New South Wales was the first bank in Australia. At the time, the colony of Sydney had not been supplied with currency, instead barter and promissory notes were the payment methods of choice. Governor Macquarie himself used cattle and rum as payment for the construction of Sydney Hospital and the road from Sydney to Liverpool. In February 1817, seven directors of the bank were elected: D’Arcy Wentworth, John Harris, Robert Jenkins, Thomas Wylde, Alexander Riley, William Redfern and John Thomas Campbell. Campbell was elected the bank’s first president and Edward Smith Hall its first cashier and secretary.
This document, along with a bank share certificate, represents the earliest known documentation relating to the formation of Australia’s first bank, the Bank of New South Wales. In 1982 the Bank of NSW became the Westpac Banking Corporation.
MakerD'Arcy Wentworth - Author/Maker
Maker RoleAuthor/Maker
Date Made1817
Period19th century
Place MadeSydney, Australia
Medium and MaterialsInk and paper.
Object TypeCurrency and Shares
Object numberSF001464
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