Name/TitleA portrait of Gnoug-a Gnoug-a (Gnung-a Gnung-a Murremurgan)
About this objectIn 1792, Gnung-a Gnung-a sailed aboard DAEDALUS, a supply ship attached to Vancouver’s voyage of discovery in the northern Pacific, and thus became the first aborigine to travel to America. He visited Norfolk Island, Nootka Sound, and Hawaii, where, incredibly, King Kamehameha unsuccessfully offered to buy the good-natured and popular visitor.
A State Library of New South Wales exhibition on the Eora noted that Gnung-a Gnung-a married Bennelong’s ‘pretty sister, Warreeweer’ and that in December 1795 he was badly injured after a fight with the great warrior Pemulwuy. He survived but was found dead behind the Dry Store (the present Sirius Park, near Bridge Street) in January 1809.
He features heavily in Collins’ account of the colony, and it is evident that the two men were very fond of each other. For his part, Collins wrote that Gnung-a Gnung-a was, ‘much esteemed by every white man who knew him, as well on account of his personal bravery, of which we had witnessed many distinguishing proofs, as on account of a gentleness of manners which strongly marked his disposition.’
This portrait of Gnoung-a Gnoung-a comes from the atlas of the second edition of the Baudin voyage; the table of contents confirms that he was from Port Jackson.
MakerNicholas Martin Petit - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made1824
Period19th century
Place MadeSydney, Australia
Place NotesInitial sketches
Place MadeParis, France
Place NotesPrinted
Medium and MaterialsInk and paper
TechniquePrintmaking
Measurements315mm x 240mm
Object TypeIndigenous History
Object numberSF000787
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