John Lewin Primary Education Kit - State Library of New South Wales

Primary education kit
A free exhibition at the
State Library of NSW
5 March to 27 May 2012

Introduction
John William Lewin (1770 - 1819) was Australia’s first free
professional artist, emigrating from England to Australia in 1800.
Lewin was also Australia’s first printmaker and the first person to
publish an illustrated book in the colony, Birds of New South Wales
(1813).
In his new home of Sydney, Lewin focused on collecting specimens
and producing naturalist art for publication. His artworks include
etchings, watercolours and oil paintings which describe the flora, fauna
and landforms of Australia. He learnt his painting skills from his father,
William Lewin (1747 - 1796), an English pattern maker and natural
history painter. John, along with his other siblings, assisted his father in
producing the illustrated publication Birds of Great Britain (1789).
John Lewin’s significance as an artist is primarily due to his innovative
style of naturalist painting. He began adding environmental context to
his subjects; a dynamic change from traditional naturalist art. His
enthusiasm for exploration and discovery in this field contributed to his
success in documenting the unique Australian world with skill and
fresh insight.
Lewin had opportunities to work in various environments and met
many challenges in his naturalist career including travelling to Tahiti in
1801 where he helped defend missionaries threatened in a time of civil
war.
As a free settler with a desire to prosper in the Australian colony,
Lewin was concerned with developing and maintaining a gentleman’s
status throughout his life here. Being appointed Coroner for the Town
of Sydney in 1810 gave him the benefit of sustainable income, housing
and social standing to mix with fellow gentlemen and, in turn, patrons.
Lewin also relied on government commissions for his work and some
of his artworks even graced the walls of Government House. A
significant event in Lewin’s career was his involvement with Governor
Macquarie’s expedition to the desperately needed land beyond the Blue
Mountains in 1815.
Lewin considered Australia to be ‘the finest country in the world’. He
typified the early Australian spirit of working hard to make a living in
this land of opportunity. John Lewin passed away in 1819 but has left
us a legacy of beautiful and significant images of Australia’s early
history.
2

Curriculum Links
Referenced outcomes for Creative Arts: Visual Arts
Stage 2 Stage 3
Making VAS2.1 VAS3.1
Represents the qualities of Investigates subject matter in an
experiences and things that are attempt to represent likenesses of
interesting or beautiful by things in the world.
choosing amongst aspects of
subject matter.
VAS2.2
Uses the forms to suggest the
qualities of subject matter.
VAS3.2
Makes artworks for different
audiences assembling materials in
a variety of ways.
Appreciating VAS2.3 VAS3.3
Acknowledges that artists make Acknowledges that audiences
artworks for different reasons and respond in different ways to
that various interpretations are artworks and that there are
possible.
different opinions about the value
of artworks.
VAS2.4
VAS3.4
Identifies connections between Communicates about the ways in
subject matter in artworks and which subject matter is
what they refer to, and
represented in artworks.
appreciates the use of particular
techniques.
Referenced outcomes for Human Society and its Environment
Change and
Continuity
Identities
Cultural diversity
Environments
Patterns of place
and location
Stage 2
Significant CCS2.1 CCS3.1
events and Describes events and actions related Explains the significance of particular
people to the British colonisation of people, groups, places, actions and
Australia and assesses changes and events in the past in developing
consequences.
Australian identities and heritage.
Cultures
CUS2.3
Explains how shared customs,
practices, symbols, languages and
traditions in communities contribute
to Australian and community
identities.
CUS2.4
Describes different viewpoints, ways
of living, languages and belief
systems in a variety of communities.
ENS2.5
Describes places in the local area
and other parts of Australia and
explains their significance.
Stage 3
CUS3.3
Describes different cultural influences
and their contribution to Australian
identities.
CUS3.4
Examines how cultures change through
interactions with other cultures and the
environment.
ENS3.5
Demonstrates an understanding of the
interconnectedness between Australia
and global environments and how
individuals and groups can act in an
ecologically responsible manner.
Relationships ENS2.6 ENS3.6
with places Describes people’s interactions with Explains how various beliefs and
environments and identifies practices influence the ways in which
responsible ways of interacting with people interact with, change and value
environments.
their environment.
Lewin: Wild Art Exhibition Primary Education Kit
© Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales

Outline of activities
Visit the Lewin: Wild Art exhibition
The State Library will display over 150 works by Lewin and other
colonial artists sourced from our extensive collection and from
institutions around the world. Practising contemporary artists will also
be working in a studio space within the gallery. Students will have an
opportunity to gain an insight into the artmaking process by observing
and engaging with real artists. Artists work in the space from 10 am – 2
pm weekdays excluding public holidays.
Artist Dates in exhibition Website
Paula Church
5 March - 16 March
Sally Gibbs 19 March - 30 March http://www.sallygibbs.com/
Beverly Allen
Deirdre Bean
Rebecca Holmes
Susannah Blaxill
2 April – 13 April http://www.beverlyallen.com.au/
16 April – 27 April http://www.botanicalartist.com.au/
30 April – 11 May
14 May – 25 May http://blaxill.com/
Community Learning Services have prepared a range of activities for
students to engage with the collection and develop skills in a number of
different subject areas. These include:
free guided tours of the exhibition,
art activities for all ages including drawing and watercolour
painting from real animal specimens
interactive investigative activities using iPads in the gallery
space to document and present material on Lewin.
Online resources – the next best thing!
Check our website http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/learning to see the
resources we have produced for the Lewin exhibition.
Resources include a PowerPoint presentation we recommend for use as
a previsit activity, education kits and other multimedia resources.
Video conferences
Engage with an expert
Richard Neville, curator of the Lewin: Wild Art exhibition and author of
Mr JW Lewin: Painter and Naturalist will be available for a video
conference. Learn about John Lewin, the artist and patriotic Australian,
from the Mitchell Librarian, a highly regarded expert in Australian
colonial art.
Watercolour workshop
An experienced Visual Arts teacher will lead your students through a
step-by-step process to complete an individual watercolour painting.
Contact a member of the team on 9273 1778to find out about our video
conferencing schedule.
4

Crossing the Blue Mountains
Despite his emphatic decision in 1803 never to go exploring again, by
the 1810s Lewin was involved in a number of inland expeditions.
By the early 1810s the colony was outgrowing the pastoral and
agricultural capacity of the Sydney Basin. Pressure to find new sources
of land encouraged Governor Macquarie to
look beyond the natural boundary of the
Blue Mountains.
Landowners were similarly attracted to this
possibility, and in May 1813 William
Charles Wentworth, Gregory Blaxland and
William Lawson were the first, officially at
least, to chart a passage across the Blue
Mountains. What they could see of the
Western Plains delighted them, and
Macquarie quickly asked Deputy Surveyor
George William Evans to survey their route
with a view to building a cart track across
the mountains – essential infrastructure if
the colony was to expand into these plains.
Evans set off on 19 November 1813, and Pitt’s Amphitheatre, 1815
his reports of the plains around what is now
known as Bathurst were glowing: an Eden waiting for occupation.
When Governor Macquarie decided to travel over the mountains on the
track that William Cox had scraped and blasted across them in the
second half of 1814, he was full of anticipation about what he would
find. The expedition set out from Emu Ford on 25 April 1815. In the
Lewin: Wild Art Exhibition Primary Education Kit
© Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales
party were Elizabeth Macquarie, Sir John Jamieson, Captain Henry
Antill of the 46th Regiment, Assistant Colonial Surgeon (and
emancipist) Dr William Redfern, the colonial Secretary John Campbell,
the Surveyor - General John Oxley, William Cox and ‘Painter and
Naturalist’ Mr Lewin who, Antill noted in his journal, had volunteered
to join the expedition.
Antill made a private arrangement with
Lewin to give him a copy of his journal in
exchange for copies of Lewin’s
watercolours. Antill keyed his journal to the
watercolours. He listed 20 watercolours in
his journal, although only 15 have survived.
The entourage must have been an
incongruous sight, with the Macquaries in a
post-chaise – a four-wheel carriage with an
enclosed cabin – bumping slowly along the
newly cut, narrow track across the Blue
Mountains, trailed by their entourage of
officials and some 40 servants.
Macquarie was determined to enjoy what he
was seeing, to celebrate the future of the colony, by embracing every
opportunity to find beauty and value in the landscape. Even when the
road became difficult and the land barren, the reward from its summit
was ‘the most extensive and beautiful prospect’.
(Richard Neville, 2012, extract from p.194 - 198)

Review questions
What was the main motivation for exploring the land over the
Blue Mountains?
What was Lewin’s role on the expedition?
How was the expedition documented and how would we
document an expedition today?
ACTIVITIES
Use the following pages with focus questions and activities, as well as
our interactive web resource in our Discover Collections to learn about
the exploration to the west of Sydney by Governor Macquarie and his
associates including John Lewin.
Discover Collections - Macquarie's crossing
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/history_nation/explorati
on/macquarie/index.html
Macquarie University Library and the State Library of New South
Wales – Macquarie’s journal
http://www.library.mq.edu.au/all/journeys/1815/1815a.html
John Lewin
Emu Ford
1815
Watercolour
6

John Lewin
Cox’s Pass
1815
Watercolour
Lewin’s pleasure in expedition life can be seen in Cox’s Pass. This
watercolour depicts the expedition’s camp by Cox’s River on 29 and 30
April 1815. The trees, the distant hill and the mess of the camp are
again carefully observed. The reality of camp life is implied by the
complete lack of interaction between the three figures. Most artists
trying to make a picture out of this scene would have had the three
figures involved with each other by theatrically pointing into the picture
in an attempt to draw the viewer in.
(Richard Neville, 2012, p.204)
Focus questions
Lewin captured a lot of detail in this work – what can you tell about
colonial camp life from studying this painting? Compare this to
camping in 2012.
Lewin was one of more than 40 people on this expedition and his role
was to document what they saw? What other roles would the
expedition members have? What does the clothing tell us about the
people on the expedition?
Activity
Write a journal entry or letter which outlines:
your intended route
goals for the expedition
provisions
companions
hopes and fears for the expedition.
Lewin: Wild Art Exhibition Primary Education Kit
© Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales

John Lewin
Cox’s Pass
1815
Watercolour
8

John Lewin
The plains, Bathurst
1815
Watercolour
The Bathurst Plains was the real target of Macquarie’s interest, and his
euphoria over what he saw was visceral. In his private journal for 4
May 1815 he wrote:
The appearance of Bathurst Plains from the Depôt extending
for many miles on both sides of the Macquarie River, and
surrounded at a distance by fine verdant Hills, is truly grand,
beautiful and interesting, forming one of the finest Landscapes
I ever saw in any Country I have yet visited. The Soil is
uncommonly good and fertile, fit for every purpose of
Cultivation and Pasture, being extremely well watered, and
thinly wooded.
The plains, Bathurst represents the success of occupation, of the dawn
of British control over these lands of ‘milk and honey’, as Barron Field
described them. The symbolism ran deep: Antill was deeply moved by
the ceremony naming Bathurst on 7 May, and inspired to contemplate a
future time ‘when a flourishing town may arise on the very spot we are
now occupying …’
(Richard Neville, 2012, p.198 - 205)
Focus Questions
How does this watercolour illustrate the success of the expedition?
What features can you see that would make this land valuable to the
English colony?
Macquarie wrote in his account of the expedition (published in the
Sydney Gazette on 10 June 1815),
It is impossible to behold this grand scene without a feeling of
admiration and surprise, whilst the silence and solitude which
reign in a space of such extent and beauty as seems designed by
Nature for the occupancy and comfort of Man …
Was this land actually free to claim? Who is missing from this scene?
Activity
Where would you position a town in this scene? Why?
What difficulties would early settlers have faced in this environment?
Make a list of the features your town would need.
Choose a name for your town.
Lewin: Wild Art Exhibition Primary Education Kit
© Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales

John W. Lewin
The plains, Bathurst
1815
Watercolour
10

John Lewin
Yango Mungo Y’eyango
1815
Watercolour
A third, small monochrome wash drawing, Yango Mungo Y’eyango, is
of a Wiradjuri man, said to be taken ‘from the life, on Bathurst Plains’.
It may be one of the missing Aboriginal portraits, however, it does not
agree with the descriptions Antill provides of the Aboriginal people
supposedly illustrated. The drawing does, however, depict the possum
cloaks described by Antill on 4 May: ‘manufacturing themselves cloaks
of skins, very neatly sewed together by the sinews of kangaroos and
emue, and carved on the inside with a variety of figures’.
(Richard Neville, 2012, p. 209 - 211)
Focus questions
What materials might Aboriginal people use for clothing? How do you
think this was seen by the British?
Do you think Yango Mungo Y’eyango is posing for Lewin? What does
this tell us about the relationship between the artist and the Aboriginal
man?
Does this painting represent a positive or negative view of Aboriginal
people?
Activity
Imagine you are Yango Mungo Y’eyango from the Wiradjuri nation.
Write a short conversation that might have taken place between you and
John Lewin in 1815. What are some things you would ask or talk about
with these new people? What might Lewin’s responses have been and
what do you think he was interested in?
Lewin: Wild Art Exhibition Primary Education Kit
© Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales

John W. Lewin
Yango Mungo Y’eyango
1815
Watercolour
12

A new species
When John Lewin came to Australia he came face to face with many
previously undocumented species of plants and animals. Can you
imagine the excitement of finding a new creature, studying it in its
habitat and making a picture of it to show the rest of the world?
You are going to create a painting of a new species of butterfly.
Equipment needed
A3 or A4 cartridge paper
Oil pastels (wax crayons or candles will work too)
Watercolour paints (watered down acrylic paints work too)
Paintbrushes
Water in containers
Step 1 – Draw your specimen
Using a light coloured wax crayon or candle, draw the outline of a
butterfly on your cartridge paper. Butterflies have a long thin body, 2
antennae and 4 large triangular shaped wings which you can alter to
define your new species.
Then draw interesting mirrored patterns on the wings of your specimen.
You may wish to draw multiple smaller specimens on your paper or
one large detailed butterfly.
Lewin: Wild Art Exhibition Primary Education Kit
© Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales

Step 2 – Adding colour
Mix up a number of coloured watercolour paints to use for each
butterfly. You may wish to use many colours or just a few.
Paint areas of the wings in different colours but make sure they are
mirrored on each side. The oil pastel drawing should help keep your
colours where you want them. Paint the body as well.
Step 3 – Background
Mix up two colours for your background (use colours different from
your butterfly to create contrast).
Wet your paper lightly in the background areas. Use the watercolour
colours and daub parts of the background with each paint to create a
mottled effect. The two paints should blend together in some areas to
give a soft appearance.
Let your work dry and then write the name of your new specimen down
the bottom.
Speckled wing butterfly
14

A bird, a bug and something bigger
Lewin was a skilled illustrator. Use these techniques to draw an animal
of your own choice.
Basic shapes
Look at these basic shapes. These are the building blocks of our
drawing. If you can draw these confidently you will be able to easily
construct your animal or whatever subject you are drawing.
John W. Lewin
The ground parrot of
NSW c.1809
Watercolour
When making a drawing of anything, you may find it useful to break
your drawing down into three simple steps
1. Sketch basic shapes
2. Create outlines
3. Add details and texture
Look at your subject. What basic shapes make up the whole shape of
your subject? Draw them lightly. Look at the example of the ground
parrot painted by John Lewin. The basic shapes are overlayed so you
can see the structure that makes up this specific example.
But above all be observant and look at your subject. Study it before
you draw it and while you draw it.
Lewin: Wild Art Exhibition Primary Education Kit
© Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales

Create Outlines
Now you need to develop your structure and refine the edges of your
drawing.
Study your subject again and draw a more accurate line around the
edges of your image using the basic shapes to guide you.
Erase unnecessary parts of your structural drawing.
Your drawing should now have a refined outline similar to below.
16

Add details and texture
Details help describe your subject’s finer features. By careful
observation you can work on one area at a time to develop the finer
qualities of your drawing.
Add a background like John Lewin did to complete your drawing.
Use a sharp pencil to add feathers, scales, fur or skin. Some areas
might be glossy like eyes, look for reflections and leave those areas
white. Turn your pencil on its side and shade areas for shadows. Add
colour if you desire.
Refer to the chart below to see how to create a variety of descriptive
textures.
Lewin: Wild Art Exhibition Primary Education Kit
© Community Learning Services, State Library of New South Wales

Drawing Textures
Fur
Scales
Feathers
18