Fish catch and Dawes Point, Sydney Harbour

Writing from Sydney in 1812, English-born John Lewin noted that he had two oil paintings underway, one of which is almost certainly this unusual composition of a haul of fish, set against a view of Dawes Point (now the location of the Sydney Harbour Bridge). On his arrival in 1800 Lewin was Australia’s first professional resident artist, and this is the earliest known oil painting to have been produced in the colony.

Part of the fascination of this work lies in its multiple dimensions: it is simultaneously a still life, a landscape and a natural history subject. The artist’s skill and experience as a trained natural history painter is evident in the accuracy of his depiction of the local fish found in the waters of Sydney Harbour. They are, from the top, snapper, hammerhead shark, crimson squirrel fish, estuary perch, rainbow wrasse and sea mullet. Lewin officially recorded several fish and some were named after him, among them, the hammerhead shark, later named Zygaena lewini and now Sphyrna lewini.

Elle Freak, Associate Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture