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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

South-bound and down

Joanna Gilmour recounts the story of ill-fated sea voyages in the early stages of the Antipodean colony.

More information on South-bound and down

Selected images

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Part of the crew of His Majesty's Ship Guardian endeavouring to escape in the boats
Part of the crew of His Majesty's Ship Guardian endeavouring to escape in the boats, 1790 Robert Dodd
Portrait of Captain Edward Riou
Portrait of Captain Edward Riou, 1801 James Heath after Samuel Shelley
Portrait of Captain John Hunter
Portrait of Captain John Hunter, 1792 Daniel Orme after Robert Dighton
The melancholy loss of HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island March 19th 1790, c. 1790
The melancholy loss of HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island March 19th 1790, c. 1790
The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty
The Mutineers turning Lieut Bligh and part of the Officers and Crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship the Bounty, 1790 Robert Dodd, B B. Evans
Admiral Bligh
Admiral Bligh, 1801 John Chapman
Distressing situation of the Guardian sloop, Capt Riou, after striking on a floating Island of ice, 1809
Distressing situation of the Guardian sloop, Capt Riou, after striking on a floating Island of ice, 1809
7 images
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Related information

Portrait of Captain John Hunter
Portrait of Captain John Hunter
Portrait of Captain John Hunter
Portrait of Captain John Hunter

Goods and chattels

About Face article

26 May 2015

I have been reading systematically through the ads in the earliest issues of the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, such a rich vein of information about certain aspects of daily life in Regency Sydney.
William Bligh by John Webber video: 2 minutes
William Bligh by John Webber video: 2 minutes
William Bligh by John Webber video: 2 minutes
William Bligh by John Webber video: 2 minutes

William Bligh

by John Webber

Portrait story

Twice rebelled against, and twice vindicated, William Bligh occupies an ambivalent space in Australian history. Angus Trumble, former Director of the National Portrait Gallery, explains.
William Bligh
William Bligh
William Bligh
William Bligh

William Bligh

About Face article

30 March 2015

The life of William Bligh offers up a handful of the most remarkable episodes in the history of Britain’s eighteenth and early nineteenth-century maritime empire.
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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