Works by the so-called Port Jackson Painter are among the earliest and most meticulous attempts by a European to represent Sydney’s Aboriginal peoples and culture. (Over 250 works are attributed to the Port Jackson Painter, the name given to an unidentified artist or artists who worked in Sydney from 1788 to the early 1790s.) Most of the watercolours are in the Natural History Museum in London, a handful are in the Rex Nan Kivell Collection at the National Library of Australia. This work, from the Library’s collection, depicts several spears, a yilimung (shield), a ngalangala (club), a mugu or mo-go (stone hatchet) and a boomerang.

Painting of various items of Indigenous weaponry a yilimung (shield), a ngalangala (club), a mugu or mo-go (stone hatchet) and a boomerang

Port Jackson Painter, [Aboriginal Hunting Implements and Weapons], 1790, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135230406

1. Display this painting and ask your students when and why it might have been painted (using the background information as a guide). Challenge students to analyse each implement depicted:

  • What might the implement have been used for?
  • What animals might have been hunted with it?
  • Why did Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hunt animals?

The implements depicted in the painting were used for hunting. Ask your students to think of implements that might have been used to gather plants.

Invite your students to write a short creative story from the perspective of an Aboriginal person living in the Sydney area prior to European settlement. Students should use one of the implements in the painting as a stimulus for their story.

2. The following images depict food-related technologies used in the 1950s:

Image of "Migrant Italian tobacco share farmers setting out young plants in the field that have been carefully nurtured under canvas covers to protect them from frost...." -- Edited description as supplied by photographer.

Carter, Jeff, 1928-2010. (1955). Planting out, Ovens Valley, 1955 [picture] / Jeff Carter. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148667470

Image of Seven woman standing on either side of a conveyor belt. The belt is full of fish. The women are all wearing white aprons and hair nets. They are packing salmon into tins. They are in a warehouse.

Carter, Jeff, 1928-2010. (1959). Women hand-packing salmon into tins at the now-abandoned cannery, Eden, 1959 [picture] / Jeff Carter. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148668777

Image of a small boy in oversized overalls stands next to an older man who is seated. The older man is squirting milk from the udder of a cow. The cows rear end is facing the camera, it's head is obscured by the older man. The older man is wearing a beanie and smoking a cigarette.

Carter, Jeff, 1928-2010. (1958). Master and apprentice, Ardglen Region, New South Wales,1958 [picture] / Jeff Carter. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148668178

Image of a man in home made diving gear hauling a large mulloway fish from the surf. They are surrounded by rocks. The fish is almost as long as the man is tall. The man has a speargun slung across his shoulder.

Carter, Jeff, 1928-2010. (1952). Spearman and mulloway, Central Coast, New South Wales,1952 [picture] / Jeff Carter. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-148672479

Ask your students to analyse each image and identify what is happening in each one. Discuss the following:

  • What tools, implements or technologies are shown?
  • What food products are being prepared?
  • Who might have eaten the foods being prepared?
  • What is the same and what is different about the 1950s technologies compared with the technologies shown in the painting of Aboriginal hunting implements?

3. Challenge your students to consider the technologies used to produce the food they eat. Begin by asking students to list the foods they ate yesterday. For each item, students should identify where the food came from and the technologies that might have been used to prepare it (e.g. farm equipment, washing equipment, mixers, ovens, forklifts, transportation, refrigeration).

The National Library of Australia acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Cultural Notification

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website contains a range of material which may be considered culturally sensitive including the records of people who have passed away.

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