Name/TitlePortrait of a woman from the powerful Cam-mer-ray-gal (now usually Cameragal) tribe of Manly
About this objectThis portrait depicts, as the caption says, a young woman from the New South Wales tribe of the Cam-mer-ray-gal (now usually Cameragal). As the name suggests, this was a group that occupied the lower north shore in Sydney, centred around Manly.
Discussed in the accounts of Phillip, Hunter and Collins, the earliest reports of the Cameragal were derived chiefly from the stories of Bennelong who described them as a very powerful tribe, highlighting the large number of medical men within their group. It was the Cameragal who organised the male initiation rite of having a tooth pulled for many of the tribes in the region.
Petit and the Baudin voyage artists evidently spent a great deal of time with the aborigines when they stayed in Port Jackson in June 1802, and their resulting sketches and portraits form one of the most significant documentary sources for the Sydney tribes. 'Artistically Petit's ability to convey personalised and compassionate depictions mark him out from nearly every other European artist pre - 1820' (Susan Hunt, Terre Napoleon, p. 11).
From the second edition of the voyage account (the plate number is in Arabic rather than roman numerals). A version of this print was prepared for the first edition, but was not issued as part of the atlas, meaning that this is the first published version of the portrait. The original is held in the Muséum d'histoire naturelle in Le Havre.
MakerNicholas Martin Petit - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
EditionFirst
Date Made1824
Period19th century
Medium and MaterialsPaper, ink and pigment
Place MadeSydney, Australia
Place MadeParis, France
Place NotesPrinted
TechniqueEngraving
Measurements335mm x 240mm
Object TypeIndigenous History
Object numberSF000785
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