Close message Due to scheduled maintenance on Friday 19th April 2024 between 7:00PM and 9:00PM AEST, the Scootle website may face disruption in service. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Back to search results
'Rapid Bay, encampment of Yankalilla blacks', 1847

Image 'Rapid Bay, encampment of Yankalilla blacks', 1847

TLF ID R4383

This is a hand-coloured lithograph made in 1847 by James William Giles (1801-70) from a watercolour by George French Angas (1822-86), measuring 35.8 cm x 53.2 cm. It depicts a group of five Indigenous Australian men and a boy holding a spear on the beach at Rapid Bay, South Australia. They are sitting and lying in front of some shelters covered in foliage. Two men can be seen inside the shelters. A number of long spears is evident. In the foreground a pile of fish is lying on a mat made from a grass, a short distance from a small fire.

View resource


Educational details

Educational value
  • This asset shows a group of Kaurna people resting after fishing and probably waiting for the fire to heat before cooking their fish - the Kaurna people seem to have moved between the coast in summer months, to take advantage of coastal berries and sea life, including turtles, and the foothills in colder weather, to take advantage of better shelter and firewood; a nearby creek and good sea fishing made Rapid Bay a favourite camping place for Indigenous people.
  • It shows long hunting spears - the spears used by Indigenous Australians were typically 2.5-3.5 m long and were made either from tree roots heated until flexible enough to be straightened, or from straight-grained saplings that were split and then rounded; the longer the spear the greater the penetrating power when it hit the target; a throwing stick, or woomera, into which the end of a spear fitted, increased the range of the spear over that of a spear thrown by hand.
  • It depicts Rapid Bay on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula, about 100 km south of Adelaide - Rapid Bay is named after the brig 'Rapid', which brought Colonel William Light (1786-1839), Adelaide's founder and South Australia's first Surveyor-General, from England in 1836.
  • It shows a group of Indigenous people from Yankalilla, about 20 km north of Rapid Bay - Yankalilla is a significant Indigenous cultural site; its name comes from an Indigenous Australian word, 'yankalan', meaning 'to fall'; according to a Dreaming story of the Kaurna people, this was where the body of Tjilbruke's slain nephew began to fall to pieces as he carried it to its final resting place; wherever Tjilbruke, ancestor of the Kaurna people, stopped to shed tears for his nephew, a spring welled up in the ground.
  • It is an example of the work of George French Angas, one of the earliest artists at work in South Australia - arriving in Adelaide in early 1844, he journeyed to the Murray Lakes, the Barossa Valley, the Fleurieu Peninsula and the south-east of South Australia, capturing impressions of the landscapes, inhabitants and flora and fauna in drawings and watercolours.
  • It is an example of a lithograph made by James William Giles and printed by Thomas McLean (1816-55), a talented and well-known printer working in Haymarket, London, during the first half of the 19th century - a lithograph is created by drawing or transferring an image onto a smooth stone using a grease crayon or greasy ink; the stone is washed with water (which is repelled by the crayon) and then with ink (which is absorbed by the crayon); the image is printed onto the paper from the stone, which can be re-inked many times without wear.
Topics Aboriginal peoples Housing Loss Digestion

Other details

Contributors
  • Author
  • Person: George French Angas
  • Description: Author
  • Person: James William Giles
  • Description: Author
  • Person: Thomas McLean
  • Description: Author
  • Contributor
  • Name: National Library of Australia
  • Organization: National Library of Australia
  • Description: Content provider
  • URL: http://www.nla.gov.au
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Person: George French Angas
  • Description: Author
  • Person: James William Giles
  • Description: Author
  • Person: Thomas McLean
  • Description: Author
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: National Library of Australia
  • Organization: National Library of Australia
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Device independence
  • Hearing independence
Learning Resource Type
  • Image
Rights
  • © Education Services Australia Ltd and National Library of Australia, 2013, except where indicated under Acknowledgements