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1 BIRDS! 
Joseph
Lycett (c.17751828)
Aborigines Hunting Waterbirds c.1817
watercolour; 34 x 23.3 cm
plate 3 of his Drawings of the Natives and Scenery of
Van Diemen's Land 1830
National Library of Australia
Lycett
was convicted of forgery at the Shropshire Assizes in England in 1811 and was
transported to New South Wales for 14 years, arriving in Sydney in 1814 aboard
the General Hewitt. The ship's records describe him as a portrait and miniature
painter and give his age as 38. On arrival he was granted a ticket of leave and
employed as a clerk in the Police Department and as an artist for Absalom West.
The following year, however, he was again convicted of forgery and was sent to
the penal colony at Newcastle where he worked in the coalmines. With the arrival
of Captain Wallis as commandant of Newcastle in 1816, Lycett again began to work
as an artist. By 1820 he was living in Sydney and earning money by painting and
on 28 November 1821 received an absolute pardon and returned to England, where
he produced most of the Australian subjects for which he is known. The Lycett
Album contains 20 watercolours of Aborigines engaged mainly in traditional tribal
activities especially fishing, and despite the formal title of the album being
given as Drawings of the Natives and Scenery of Van Diemen's Land, the
setting is actually Newcastle, New South Wales. There is no record of Lycett ever
having visited Tasmania.
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