Saltwater Culture

Here we see the Eora within their landscape: fishing from bark canoes, gathering by campfires, taking part in initiation ceremonies. These images of the native inhabitants and the changing landscape are seen through the eyes of non-Indigenous artists. Many of the earliest images of the local commmunity were recorded by Thomas Watling, a convict artist transported for forgery who arrived in Sydney in October 1792. Watling was asigned to the Surgeon John White, as his hospital clerk.