Name/TitlePortrait of Oui-ré-kine, who sailed to Bass Strait on the LADY NELSON with James Grant
About this objectA portrait by Nicholas-Martin Petit, depicting Oiu-ré-kine (Wárrgan/Worogan), a young woman from Port Jackson who, together with her husband Yeranibe (Euranabie), had sailed with James Grant on the Lady Nelson. The portrait is taken from the first edition of Baudin's voyage account; the table of contents of the second edition confirms that Ou-ré-kine is from "des environs du Port Jackson".
Wárrgan - "crow" - was a relative of Bennelong and she was, moreover, one of the small circle of Sydney Aborigines to associate with William Dawes, notably in his attempt to compile a vocabulary.
An exhibition of the Eora held at the State Library of New South Wales noted that Wárrgan married Yeranibe, son of Maugoran and Goorooberra. Significantly, Grant's narrative of the voyage of the Lady Nelson includes several descriptions of Wárrgan and her husband Yeranibe, both of whom were guests on board the vessel for the voyage to Jervis Bay and beyond; they were taken on board, as Grant noted, because they 'spoke English tolerably well.' Grant, for example, notes at one point, that when 'Euranabie and his wife came on board the vessel, at Sydney, they both of them received clothing; but when the weather proved warm, the woman threw aside her gown and petticoat, and preferred appearing in the state of nature, or slightly covered with a blanket.'
MakerNicholas Martin Petit - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
Date Made1807
Period19th century
Medium and MaterialsPaper and ink
Place MadeSydney, Australia
Place MadeParis, France
Place NotesPrinted
TechniqueEngraving
Measurements305mm x 250mm
Object TypeIndigenous History
Object numberSF000786
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