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'Quail shooting, Jones' Hill, Challicum', c1850

This is a watercolour by Duncan Cooper that shows quail shooting at Jones' Hill at Challicum, a sheep run west of Ballarat in western Victoria. It depicts two men with shotguns and two hunting dogs, which may be pointers, crossing a low plateau. The man in front has taken aim and appears to have just discharged his rifle. ...

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Female Orphan School, near Parramatta, 1825

This is a hand-coloured aquatint print, measuring 23 cm x 31.5 cm, showing a view of the Female Orphan School near Parramatta, New South Wales. The large buildings stand on a hill, with a background of trees. A green park drops down to a tree-lined river in the foreground. On the river are two boats - a rowboat containing ...

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Amphipod

This is a colour photograph of a marine amphipod ('Birubius wirakus'), showing its characteristic curved body shape and tail limbs.

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Sea louse

This is a colour photograph of a sea louse ('Natatolana woodjonesi').

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Drovers and their horses resting, c1850

This is a watercolour, measuring 44 cm x 64 cm, by the famous colonial artist Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80). It shows two drovers camped next to a fallen tree, with their horses tethered and at rest behind them. One of the drovers and a dog remain vigilant, looking towards cattle that are spread out on a wide plain below, ...

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Diprotodon fossil skull

This is a colour photograph of a fossil skull of 'Diprotodon optatum'. It is a museum specimen and has been mounted on a frame.

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'The claim disputed', c1852

This is a watercolour, measuring 19.4 cm x 25.4 cm, by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), a famous colonial artist. It shows a well-dressed man - presumably the Gold Commissioner - arbitrating a dispute over a claim involving three diggers, probably on the Victorian gold fields. Two of the diggers are in animated discussion ...

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'Gold digging in Australia 1852: fair prospects'

This is a watercolour, the second of a pair, measuring 20.2 cm x 26.4 cm, by Samuel Thomas Gill (1818-80), a famous colonial artist. It shows two gold miners standing near a mine shaft, inspecting a handful of gold, at the edge of a creek. One of the men is leaning on a pick and a panning dish is lying on the ground nearby. ...

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'Nancy Bird Walton with her plane, Gypsy Moth, 1935'

This is a black-and-white close-up photograph (9.5 cm x 11.8 cm) showing the famous Australian pilot Nancy Bird (1915-) leaning against the open cockpit of her de Havilland biplane.

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Indigenous Australian men with weapons, c1817

This is a 17.7 cm x 27.8 cm watercolour of ten men carrying spears, spear throwers and shields as they walk along a dirt path. Some have clubs tucked into loincloths. Another group of five men can be seen further down the grassed hill.

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Indigenous Australians hunting in trees, c1817

This is a watercolour, measuring 27.8 cm x 17.6 cm, created by Joseph Lycett in about 1817. It features an Indigenous Australian man about 5 metres up the trunk of a eucalypt tree, with his feet and one hand in notches on the trunk. He is holding a small axe in the other hand, ready to cut another notch. Below, a man holding ...

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Indigenous Australian man with white body paint, c1790

This is a portrait of an Indigenous Australian man from the Port Jackson (Sydney) area of New South Wales, created in about 1790 by an unknown artist. He is depicted from the waist up, with white paint on his face, arms and chest. The text 'When angry and (as I suppose) intends to fight at a future period' is written below ...

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Indigenous Australian man warding off spears, c1817

This is a 17.7 cm x 27.7 cm watercolour showing an Indigenous Australian man holding a shield in front of himself, with fallen spears at his feet, as he faces a group of 14 men. Some are holding spears, apparently watching and waiting, while one is about to throw his spear at the man with the shield. Another group of 11 ...

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Statue of the explorer Kupe and his companions, 1939

This is a very large monumental sculpture of three human figures. The Polynesian explorer Kupe holds a spear at the prow of his waka (canoe), Mätähoua; his wife, Hineiteäparangi (or Kuramarotini), points to the horizon; and the tohunga (skilled and respected person) Pekahourangi holds a tewhatewha (wooden battleaxe) and ...

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Three Indigenous Australians, c1850

This is a watercolour painted by Samuel Gill in about 1850, entitled 'Two natives and child by a creek'. The painting, which measures 10 cm x 12 cm, is also known as 'Aborigine with barbed spear'. The location is unidentified. The image shows three Indigenous Australians - a man, a woman, and a child aged about three. All ...

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'Te Whiti's bank, Parihaka', c1887

This is a black-and-white photograph from Parihaka, Taranaki taken around 1887. Traditional Mäori whare or houses surround a bank built in European-style architecture, using painted, sawn timber and with foundations, a cross gable tiled roof with finials, and a covered balcony with a balustrade at the front. A man is leaning ...

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Penny-farthing bicycle, c1888

This is a penny-farthing, or high-wheel bicycle, built in Melbourne by H Bassett and Co in the late 1880s. Called 'The Victory', it has a 142-cm diameter front wheel and a smaller rear wheel, both with solid rubber tyres. The pedals are fixed directly to the axle of the front wheel. The leather seat sits on a 'cradle spring' ...

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Sunshine stripper harvester, 1884

This is a Sunshine stripper harvester, the design of which was developed by Hugh Victor McKay on his father's property at Drummartin, Victoria, in 1884. The harvester has three wheels, one at the front and two at the back. It is designed to strip, thresh and clean wheat grain. It is painted in brown and yellow, and features ...

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'The dawn of art', 1880s

This is a set of six drawings by the Aboriginal artists Ilontereba, Mindilpilpil and Billiamook. The set is prominently titled 'THE DAWN OF ART' with smaller text stating that it shows 'Original Sketches and Drawings by Aboriginal Natives of the Northern Territory of South Australia executed without the aid of a master. ...

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'Jandamarra's boomerang', late 19th century

This is a boomerang painted with three oval markings. On one side is an old label that reads: 'Western Australian Boomerang called Kielie of curious pattern. This boomerang belonged to the black bushranger Pidgeon who was shot by the police on … the Lillemillora Gorge, Leopold Range. Rare Pattern'. The boomerang is 52.5 ...