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Vincent Woodthorpe (British, c1764–1822).

Pinchgut Island [Fort Denison, Sydney Harbour]

1803. Hand-coloured engraving with stipple, text including title and date in plate below image, 11.4 x 17.6cm. Soiling and chips to margins, old mount burn.

Text includes “Woodthorpe. Pub. March 11, 1803 by M. Jones, Paternoster Row.” Image held in the National Gallery of Art and the State Library of NSW, noting that it is illustrated in An Account of a Voyage to New South Wales by George Barrington (1810 edition). Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour was originally known by its Eora Aboriginal name of Mat-te-wan-ye, meaning a steep rocky island. Governor Arthur Phillip renamed it Rock Island after European settlement to Sydney Cove in 1788, but it was informally known as Pinchgut Island. “This colourful name is commonly believed to refer to the island’s use as place of punishment for convicts until the early 1800s, and the starvation diet they received there of bread and water. The name may also refer to the nautical term that indicates the island’s location at the narrowest point of the harbour.” Ref: Wiki; Dictionary of Sydney.

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Item #CL202-4

Price (AUD): $990.00  other currencies