Curio

State Library of New South Wales
The Monkey Bear of N.S.Wales (1830–1835)

The Monkey Bear of N.S.Wales (1830–1835)

Ink

Bequeathed by DS Mitchell, 1907

A 330

William Govett was Assistant-Surveyor to Surveyor General Sir Thomas Mitchell. A particular achievement of Govett’s was his survey of the road across the Blue Mountains. Govett had a genuine curiosity about the Australian landscape and its animals.This hopelessly inaccurate depiction of the Monkey Bear or Koala highlights the difficulties newcomers faced as they attempted to record the weird and wonderful species of Australia.

When William Govett returned to England, he took up a career as a writer. He wrote and illustrated numerous articles about NSW that covered the topics of surveying, Sydney life and habits of the Indigenous Australians for the Saturday Magazine under the title 'Sketches of New South Wales.'*


*Australian Dictionary of Biography

 http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/govett-william-romaine-2115


William Govett was forced to return to England in 1833 due to a reduction of the New South Wales surveying department. The move caused him severe emotional distress, and it is believed that a combination of this and heavy drinking during his youth attributed to his death aged 41.*


*Australian Dictionary of Biography

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/govett-william-romaine-2115

William Govett was described as being “a young exploratory surveyor who impressed others with his work so much that they named the most beautiful waterfall in that area 'Govett's Leap'”*

*Design and Art Australia

Online http://www.daao.org.au/bio/william-govett/biography/?