Since
closing our Milton gallery at Camford Square, Derek and I have been surprisingly
busy - maps, prints and books bought online, meeting customers at our shops in
the Brisbane Antique Centre at exit 30 (Beenleigh-Redland Bay Road), and sharing
refreshments with visitors to the Antique Print Club-house on Mt Nimmel in Neranwood.
We now also have regular exhibitions in Clayfield at Brisbane Antique Emporium (Open Daily at 794 Sandgate Road – free
parking, off Junction Road). The current exhibition shows 400 years of Antique Maps & Prints of Australia.
As recently as the
17th century Terra Australis
Incognita (unknown southern land) represented European opinion that a large
landmass at the South Pole balanced the populated countries of the northern
hemisphere. Including “curious” in their titles, even early 18th
century maps wrong coastlines for Australia - until James Cook discovered and charted
the east coast in 1770.

Early European engravings showed decidedly strange interpretations of
Australia’s unfamiliar marsupials. Engravings of our birds and animals
include the ‘kanguroo’
on Captain Cook’s voyage (more accurate in shape than many images from
the First Fleet settlement). 19th century beautiful large
hand-coloured lithographs of Australian birds and mammals were published by
John Gould. 18th century hand-coloured engravings of distinctive Australian
flora had finely engraved dissections of flowers. Some in the 19th
century used uncoloured sections to emphasize foliage detail. Exquisite
hand-coloured botanical lithographs c1840 are beautiful decorative artwork.
One
of the earliest and undoubtedly the most famous early view of Australia is of Cook’s
Endeavour in the river near Cooktown
in north Queensland, where it was repaired after running aground on
the Great Barrier Reef. Engraved scenes of early country views and city architecture,
tell us of life in colonial Australia. Engravings and lithographs depict the
hardships endured by immigrants in
carving homes and livelihoods from the land, and include wonderful S.T. Gill character
studies of those seeking gold, and engravings of other more humorous incidents.
Formal Victorian customs and dress were not suited to life in the harsh
Australian environment. We are lucky that early settlement and development was
graphically recorded in engravings to provide images for publication and
circulation back in Europe – and for us to appreciate today! You'll find many more at http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/
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