• Title
  [Koala and young], 1803 / J.W. Lewin
• Creator
  J. W. (John William) Lewin, 1770-1819
• Call number
  ML 896
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1803
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Drawings
• Reference code
  421756
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  1 drawing - watercolour and gouache - 29.4 x 34.1 cm. (sheet); 37.7 x 44.2 cm. (mounting page)
  
• Collection history
  The King family descendant probably purchased the watercolour in 1803
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  This work is believed to be the earliest surviving drawing of a koala by a European.
  J. W. Lewin's depiction of a koala and its young has been variously described by contemporaries:
  
  The botanist Robert Brown related to Sir Joseph Banks that ""The Governor, I learn, sends a drawing made by Mr Lewin. Mr Bauer cannot on so short a notice finish the more accurate one he has taken"" -- Reference: Brown to Banks, September 1803, Historical Records of NSW, vol.5, p.228.
  
  Captain William Paterson described the drawing to Banks as ""very worthless"" Reference: Paterson to Banks, 10 March 1804, Papers of Sir Joseph Banks, ML Series 27.29.
  
  The drawing may be the Koala referred to in the Sydney Gazette, August 21, 1803, a copy of which is filed at PXn 622.
  Digital order no:a928145
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Signed & dated at lower right "I.W. Lewin N.S.W 1803"
• Topic
  animals
  colonial art
  eucalypts
  koalas
  natural history illustrations
  
• Exhibited in
  
  In the garden - Parramatta Heritage Centre
  A Rage for Curiosity - State Library of New South Wales (September, 1997 - January, 1998)
  Lewin: Wild Art - State Library of New South Wales (March, 2012 - October, 2012)
  Australian Inspiration - State Library of New South Wales (July, 2015 - September, 2015)

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