George Raper (19 September 1769 – 29 September 1796) was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer who as an

able seaman An able seaman (AB) is a seaman and member of the deck department of a merchant ship with more than two years' experience at sea and considered "well acquainted with his duty". An AB may work as a watchstander, a day worker, or a combination ...

joined the crew of and the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

to establish a colony at

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...

, New South Wales, now Australia. He is best known today for his watercolour sketches of the voyage and settlement, particularly birds and flowers of

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora language, Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central ...

Career

Raper was born to Henry and Catherine Raper in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on 19 September 1769; his sister was the

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

list Catherine Charlotte Raper. On 20 August 1783 at age 13 he joined the

's as a captain's servant. After further service on HMS ''Racehorse'', he joined on 15 November 1786. ''Sirius'', commanded by Captain John Hunter, was the flagship of the

, which under Commodore

Arthur Phillip Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...

transported convicts from England to

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in Australia. On 30 September 1787, while the First Fleet was sailing from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town, George Raper became a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

. Raper took his paint box with him, containing a larger set of paints than that of his captain, John Hunter, who was also an artist. Raper's charts, and his paintings of ports such as

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, were part of his evidence of competence for his promotion to

. The First Fleet arrived in

in January 1788, then sailed to

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

(now Sydney Harbour). On 1 October 1788, ''Sirius'' with Raper on board set sail from Port Jackson for the Dutch settlement of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, to get supplies for the starving Australian colony. Raper continued to paint; his watercolour of 'ice-islands' on this journey is held at the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

, London. In February 1789, ''Sirius'' left Cape Town loaded with twelve months' provisions for the ship's company, six months' flour for the whole settlement, and other stores. Raper probably purchased paper in Cape Town; most of his paintings after this date are on Dutch paper. On the return to Port Jackson, ''Sirius'' suffered damage in a gale off the south coast of

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

. The ship was repaired at Careening Cove, now Mosman Bay on Sydney Harbour, from June to November 1789. During this period, Raper may have had leisure to continue his painting. The melancholy loss of HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island March 19th 1790 - George Raper

The melancholy loss of HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island March 19th 1790 - George Raper

On 6 March 1790, ''Sirius'', with Raper on board, left Port Jackson for

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

. On 19 March, ''Sirius'' was wrecked while landing supplies at Norfolk Island. All the ship's company were saved and many of the supplies were salvaged; Raper saved his paint box. A number of the landscapes and natural history drawings that he made on the island have survived. He and the crew of ''Sirius'' were trapped on the island for 11 months, facing starvation and increasing distress at the failure of Governor Phillip to send a ship to collect them. Raper and the rest of the ship's company eventually returned to Sydney with HMS ''Supply'', arriving there on 27 February 1791. Raper then returned to England via Batavia (now

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

), arriving at Portsmouth in 1792. Back in England, the officers of ''Sirius'', including Raper, faced a court martial because of the loss of the ship. They were honourably acquitted. Raper then served on and . In June 1793 he received his commission as

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

and moved to . In September that year he moved to the former French ship ''Commerce de Marseille'', one of the vessels which had defected to the British during the

Siege of Toulon The siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) was a military engagement that took place during the Federalist revolts and the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was undertaken by forces of the French Re ...

; his presence is recorded in that ship's muster as 'Rapert ... Lieut't anglais'. Only two paintings that can be dated to his period of service in the Mediterranean are known to have survived – they are of a dolphin and a shark, and are held at the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

. In April 1795 Raper joined as a lieutenant. While serving on the ''Cumberland'', he wrote his will. Dated 14 October 1795, it is a simple document compared to most 18th-century wills. In it he asks that his painting case "be delivered...to my dearest and beloved Mother". In May 1796, Raper was given his first command, as master and commander of the cutter HMS ''Expedition''. He was despatched to

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

and then the West Indies, bringing his ship through a hurricane near

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

with much damage but no lives lost.

Death

Different dates for Raper's death have been given; one account stated that Raper died in 1797. Historian Linda Groom, in her book ''First Fleet artist: George Raper's birds and plants of Australia'', cites a letter from Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, dated 2 October 1796, which reported Raper's death:

"I am sorry to conclude my letter with informing their Lordships that Lieutenant Raper, commanding the Expedition Cutter, died on the 29th".

There are reports of multiple deaths from fever on Royal Navy vessels in the West Indies in the preceding months. The admiral's letter and other naval records of the time, however, make no comment on whether Raper succumbed to the fever or died from some other cause.

Paintings

On his travels from 1787 to 1792 George Raper made watercolour paintings of birds, flowers and landscapes. Many of these drawings show species which are extinct today, like the Lord Howe swamphen or the Lord Howe pigeon from

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland Port ...

. He also sketched profiles of landscapes and topographical maps. Currently Raper's paintings are collected in five places: * The First Fleet Artwork Collection in the

in London, of 72 Raper paintings. Previously acquired by

Osbert Salvin Osbert Salvin (25 February 1835 – 1 June 1898) was an English natural history, naturalist, Ornithology, ornithologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist best known for co-authoring ''Biologia Centrali-Americana'' (1879–1915) with Frederick DuC ...

and

Frederick DuCane Godman Frederick DuCane Godman (15 January 1834 – 19 February 1919) was an English lepidopterist, entomology, entomologist and ornithology, ornithologist. He was one of the twenty founding members of the British Ornithologists' Union. Along with Osb ...

, these were exhibited to the Zoological Society of London in 1877. Godman's daughter Eva Godman donated the volume in the mid-twentieth century. * The Alexander Turnbull Library, part of the National Library of New Zealand, in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, which digitised all 65 of its watercolours in 2018. * The

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

, Canberra, which in 2004 purchased for an undisclosed sum from the Moreton family in England 56 watercolours found at the estate of the Earl of Ducie in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. * The

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library located in the Charing Cross area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the largest public reference library in Europe, and the centre of Glasgow's public library system. History The library was initiall ...

, part of the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, has two volumes – 18 mostly of fish, and 33 flower paintings – as well as a 1790 painting of the settlement of Norfolk Island. * The

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the S ...

, Amsterdam, contains a few works attributed to Raper.

Gallery

File:Waratah 1789.jpg, "Wa-ra-ta" (''

Telopea speciosissima ''Telopea speciosissima'', commonly known as the New South Wales waratah or simply waratah, is a large shrub in the plant family Proteaceae. It is Endemism, endemic to New South Wales in Australia. No subspecies are recognised; the closely r ...

'') 789?File:Platylobium formosum (Raper) -cropped.jpg, "Handsome flat-pea" ('' Platylobium formosum'') 789?File:Crinum pedunculatum (Raper).jpg, '' Crinum pedunculatum'', flower and seeds above whole plant File:Phaps chalcoptera by George Raper.jpg, Common bronzewing, '' Phaps chalcoptera'' File:LordHoweIslandPigeonByGeorgeRaper.jpg, Lord Howe pigeon, '' Columba vitiensis godmanae''

References

External links