Corroboree at Newcastle

Joseph Lycett was the first convict artist to broadly depict the transformation of the Australian colony into a free settlement.[1] Some of Lycett's most effective paintings were night scenes like this one featuring Awabakal men at Newcastle.[2] In this imagined scene Aborigines perform campfire ceremonies on the banks of the Hunter River surrounded by casuarinas and mangroves, with distant Nobby's Island and the European signal station lit up by the full moon.[3] Lycett has depicted a number of indigenous activities in different parts of the canvas. In one a tooth evulsion is taking place while under a tree a group of men are gathered around a fire sharing a clay pipe.[4] James Gleeson, who attributed this painting to Captain James Wallis of the 46th Regiment, interpreted the scene by the large gum tree to the right as a woman being beaten for intruding on an all-male ceremony.[5]

presented to the State Library of New South Wales by Sir William Dixson, 1938. Probably purchased by A H Spencer, Hill of Content Bookshop, from the Museum Book Store, London, 19 August 1937, purchased by William Dixson, 1937.[6]

• Snell, T. (1991). Sense of place : Whose place? Australian Art Education, 15(2), 24-29.
• Lycett, J., McPhee, J., Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, National Library of Australia, & Newcastle Region Art Gallery. (2006). Joseph Lycett : Convict artist / John McPhee editor. Sydney: Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales.
• Turner, J., & Lycett, J. (1997). Joseph Lycett : Governor Macquarie's convict artist / John Turner. Newcastle, N.S.W.: Hunter History Publications.
• Hoorn, J. (2018). Colony: Australia 1770–1861/Frontier Wars. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 18(2), 286-290.

• Lycett, J. (1824). Views in Australia, or, New South Wales & Van Diemen's Land delineated : In fifty views with descriptive letter press ... / by J. Lycett. London: J. Souter, SAFE/ F82/16.