Guide to the Sketches created by Thomas Baines (as filmed by the AJCP)
M397
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2018
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Baines, (John) Thomas
- Title
- Sketches created by Thomas Baines (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- 1855 - 1856
- Collection Number
- M397
- Extent
- 54 items
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Australian Joint Copying Project
- Sponsor
- The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) online portal was created with the assistance of the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund, 2017-2020. The National Library of Australia gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the other foundation AJCP partners, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives of the UK, and all other organisations which supported the work of the AJCP, the world's most extensive collaborative copying project, operating from 1948 to 1997.
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Four albums of watercolours, wash paintings and pencil drawings by Thomas Baines produced while serving on the North Australian Exploring Expedition, July 1855 – March 1857.
Conditions Governing Access
Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use
Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
Preferred Citation
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)
Archival History
Material selectively filmed at the Royal Geographical Society, London, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1961 (AJCP Reel: M397). Original microfilm digitised as part of the AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.
Most of the works are identified and many of them are dated. The following is a select list indicating the range of subject-matter.
Existence and Location of Originals
Royal Geographical Society. 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR, England
For more information see: Royal Geographical Society- search our collections (https://www.rgs.org/about/our-collections/search-our-collections/).
Existence and Location of Copies
The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2175499] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.
Finding-aid Notes
This finding aid is a revised online version of the original finding aid prepared by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), published by the National Library of Australia in 2019. The original AJCP finding aids were unpublished typescripts or photocopies available from libraries that held copies of the original microfilm.
Dates used in this finding aid refer to the date range of the records selected for filming rather than to the date range of the Series or Files.
Advisory Statement
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this Finding Aid contains material and descriptive information which may be considered culturally sensitive and may cause distress, including names and images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased. This Finding Aid contains terms that reflect authors' views or those of the historical period, but which may not be considered appropriate today. While the information may not reflect current understanding, it is provided in an historical context.
Subjects
Albany Island, Queensland; Albert River, Queensland; Artists; Australia; Baines, Thomas (1820-1875); Botany: Australia; Exploration: land; Great Britain; Indigenous Australians; Gregory, Sir Augustus C.; New South Wales; Northern Australia; Northern Territory; Paintings, drawings and prints: New South Wales; Paintings, drawings and prints: Queensland; Victoria River, Northen Terriory; Zoology: Northern Territory
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 17, p6.
Biographical / Historical
(John) Thomas Baines (1820-1875) was born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, and was apprenticed to a coach painter. In 1842 he emigrated to South Africa and worked in Cape Town as a scenic and portrait painter and he was later an official war artist in the war against the Xhosa tribes in 1850-52. He returned to England to supervise the publication of Scenery and events in South Africa (1852).
In March 1855 Baines ailed to Australia to take up the position of artist and storekeeper on the Northern Australian Exploring Expedition led by A.C. Gregory. The party, comprising 18 men and 50 horses, left Sydney in July 1855 on the barque Monarch and the schooner Tom Tough. They sailed through Torres Strait and reached Entrance Island at the mouth of the Victoria River on 15 September 1855. The Monarch then departed for Singapore. From two bases on the Victoria River, Gregory and his companions proceeded to explore the interior. In April 1856 Baines accompanied Gregory and two others on a foray in which the Baines River was discovered. In June 1856 Gregory began a mounted journey to Moreton Bay, sending Baines and a small detachment on the Tom Thumb to Timor to obtain supplies. Baines was forced to sail west to Surabaya to have the boat refitted. The main mast was broken and he decided to abandon the Tom Tough and purchased a brigantine. In October 1856 the party began the return voyage to Australia. Baines did not reach the Albert River until 17 November 1856 and he found that Gregory had left two months earlier. On 27 November 1856 Baines departed on the return voyage along the west coast of Australia, stopping at Albany, and reaching Sydney on 31 March 1857. He presented a number of artefacts from northern Australia and the East Indies to the Australian Museum.
In 1858 Baines returned to South Africa and accompanied David Livingstone on a journey along the Zambesi. In 1861-62 he undertook an expedition to South West Africa with James Chapman, which led to the publication of his book Explorations in South-West Africa in 1864. In 1869 he led an expedition, on behalf of the South African Goldfields Exploration Company, to the Matabele king Mzilikazi. In 1871 he was granted a concession to explore for gold between the Gweru and Hunyani rivers. He died at Durban in 1875.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. North Australian Exploring Expedition, July 1855 - March 1857
Four albums of watercolours, wash paintings and pencil drawings by Thomas Baines produced while serving on the North Australian Exploring Expedition
The four volumes were filmed selectively by the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Sketches illustrating the Countries visited by the North Australian Expedition (Part 1), 1855 - 1857 (File F16)