Portrait of a woman from the powerful Cam-mer-ray-gal (now usually Cameragal) tribe of Manly

This 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.