In 1788, nearly 1500 people on 11 sailing ships came ashore at Port Jackson in Western Australia after a grueling four month journey from England. This collection of vessels later became known as the First Fleet. This book is a captivating collection of watercolours, washes, ink and pencil drawings created during this historic time.

Parrots and lorikeets swoop down, vivid, bright and colourful. Black swans glide through the air. Owls stare out from pages, wide-eyed. A sense of awe swept through natural history circles in eighteenth-century London when the first ships returned from Sydney with their cargo of exotic animals, birds and plants – and striking watercolour illustrations. The sudden emergence, in 2011, of a large number of these watercolour illustrations has revealed much about the early years of the colony. In Natural Curiosity, Louise Anemaat uncovers never-before-published works from the artists of the First Fleet, including convicts-turned-watercolourists Thomas Watling and John Doody, and the anonymous 'Port Jackson Painter'. She unravels the complex network of natural history collectors who spanned the globe – eagerly acquiring, copying and exchanging these artworks – from New South Wales Surgeon-General John White to passionate British collector Aylmer Bourke Lambert.

Some biographers are critical of John Hunter's leadership style as the Governor of Port Jackson. Others say he was a failure at sea. Linda Groom disagrees and claims that Hunter was an outstanding seaman whose mere survival as governor was an achievement for his time. Linda Groom is Curator of the National Library of Australia's Pictures Collection.

The photographs in First Fleet serve as a time capsule of a unique time in the history of manned spaceflight.

In 1788, the First Fleet landed in New South Wales, and European settlement in Australia began. Among those on board the eleven ships of the fleet were artists who recorded their impressions of the land, its indigenous people, its flora and fauna, and incidents or events which they considered significant.

"The life of George Raper and the discovery of his artwork of birds and plants dating from the time of the First Fleet."--Provided by publisher.