What we see in this image

This group portrait shows members of the King family in a relaxed domestic setting, seated companionably around a table and posed to reinforce traditional gender roles- the elder daughter assists her mother with the care of a younger child while the father imparts knowledge to his son.

Captain King (far right) wears a British Royal Naval uniform (pattern 1795-1812) comprised of a blue wool double-breasted, brass buttoned dress frock coat for a captain (under three years seniority) edged in gold lace with a stand collar, button-back lapels and epaulettes at the shoulder, the sleeves with ‘mariners’ cuffs trimmed with a single row of gold lace to denote rank, worn with a single-breasted waistcoat, over a linen shirt with a high collar, frilled cuffs and a white cravat, and knee breeches in white wool with ribbed stockings. His white hair is possibly powdered and tied-back.

Mrs King (far left) wears a full-skirted, long-sleeved white muslin morning dress with a wrap over front, edged with a narrow flounce, forming a V-shaped neckline and tied at the waist over a high-necked white muslin ‘chemisette’, or undershirt. Her bandeau headdress is tied around her natural curls and she wears fingerless mittens.

Anna (aged 6) and Elizabeth (aged 2) wear day dresses of white muslin with low necklines, high waists and short, puffed sleeves; the younger daughter also wears a [straw] cap trimmed with a red sash. Phillip Parker King (aged 8) wears a brass-buttoned, blue wool jacket over a white double-breasted vest and a linen shirt with a wide flat collar trimmed with a narrow flounce.

What we know about this image

Philip Gidley King (1758-1808), his wife Anna Josepha (1765-1844) and daughter Elizabeth (1797-1856), then their youngest child, left England for NSW in 1799. Captain P.G. King had received his post-captain’s commission on 5/12/1798, and was appointed third Governor of NSW (1800-1806). The King family were not reunited with their two elder children, Anna Maria (1793-1852) and Phillip Parker (1791-1856), until 1807. It seems to have been common practice for officers departing for overseas service to have a portrait made, though family portraits like this one are less common. Robert Dighton (c.1752-1814) was an English portrait painter, printmaker and caricaturist who was regularly commissioned to paint portraits for military families.

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What we see in this image

The female convict in this double portrait wears a light-coloured, loose-fitting, informal garment known as a ‘Bed gown’, or wrapping jacket, with elbow-length sleeves paired with a dark skirt, or petticoat.The Bed gown typically reached mid-thigh with pleated or shaped fullness at the hip and a short skirt cut in one with the bodice as shown in this image. It was usually only held in place at the neck, its V-neckline filled-in with a neckerchief or ‘fichu’ draped, pinned or tied over the breasts. The convict woman’s short petticoat reveals her ankles above buckled and heeled leather shoes and she wears a tall, high-crowned hat with a wide contrasting band of ribbon around its base, trimmed with a ribbon rosette, placed at a jaunty angle over her muslin cap and natural curly hair. Fancier versions of the bed gown could be worn in very informal circumstances by the higher classes (e.g., in one’s boudoir), but it was primarily a garment of working women and the lower classes throughout Europe at this time, who wore it as ordinary daily clothing. Toward the end of the 18th century, the bed gown and petticoat was gradually superseded by the one-piece, ’round’ gown.

The male convict in this double portrait wears a practical type of short jacket, with a stand collar, cuffed sleeves and slit pockets, made with a minimum of cloth in a dark, serviceable colour (perhaps brown or blue). He wears a short, light-coloured straight cut waistcoat, half-fastened (14 buttons) over a light-coloured shirt with a neckcloth wrapped around the neck. His loose fitting, light-coloured trousers end above the ankle, revealing buckled leather shoes. His tall crowned hat sits at a rakish angle above his tousled hair which may also be tied back.

What we know about this image

In the first years of settlement, both convicts and free working-class people wore very similar kinds of clothing consisting largely of basic, ready-made ‘slops’ – the commonly used term for any type of coarse loose-fitting readymade clothing. Uniformly similar in appearance, ‘slop’ garments probably resembled the drab clothes worn in English prisons but were also standard dress for much of the urban working classes at the time. Convict men were issued with short jackets, check frocks, trousers, check shirts and tall crowned hats; women were issued with jackets, petticoats (skirts), kerchiefs, caps and hats. Clear categories of distinctive convict dress or uniform were never satisfactorily enforced in the colony, due to irregularities of supply and further exacerbated by non-standard types clothing issued to convicts on assignment, making discipline difficult to maintain.

This image is believed to originate from an album of drawings belonging to Felipe Bauza (1764-1834) who sailed to New South Wales in 1793, as part of the Spanish Scientific Expedition (1789-94) to Australia and the Pacific, under the command of Alessandro Malaspina. The Spanish navy arrived in Sydney on 12 March 1793, to observe the British settlement, and departed a month later on 13 April. Bauza made several sketches during the expedition but these images could also be the work of José Cardero, a young, self-taught artist, who joined the expedition in 1791. In 1962 Bauza personal collection (gathered unofficially and perhaps secretly during the voyage) was offered for sale, and a few of the drawings relating to Australia were purchased by the SLNSW for the Dixson Galleries (Sydney Morning Herald, 7 April 1962, p.14). Among the works acquired were these two drawings, described at the time of their purchase as ‘Australia’s first fashion pictures’.

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What we see in this image

The woman in this double portrait wears a tall-crowned, narrow-brimmed, ribbed straw hat with a dark-coloured ribbon, wrapped diagonally around its high sides and forming a band at its base,a towering ostrich plume fixed to the left hand side, and additional small feather or floral trimmings. Her fair hair is left naturally curly and unpowdered. She wears a ’round’ gown or one-piece ‘chemise’ dress made of plain coloured cloth with a wide neckline’ trimmed with a flat ruffled or flounced collar, and filled-in with a starched ‘buffon’ neckerchief, or ‘fichu’ which has been bunched up, over the bust, and swathed high around the neck, covering the shoulders to create an elegant ‘pigeon-breasted’ silhouette, with both ends tucked into the gathered bodice. The gown has elbow-length, cuffed sleeves and a wide sash defining the waistline, and falls in soft folds to the ground just revealing the tips of a pair of pointed shoes. The woman also carries a large shawl, wrapped closely around her torso below the waist, perhaps to conceal pregnancy. Gathered gowns were easily adapted to changes in body shape resulting from pregnancy and nursing. Originally popularised in white muslin, coloured ‘chemise’ gowns like this also appear in European fashion plates between the years 1784-86.

The man in this double portrait wears the military uniform of a Lieutenant in the New South Wales Corps, denoted by the single epaulette on his right shoulder, and comprising a long-tailed [red] coat with light-coloured [yellow] button-back facings and sleeve cuffs (this style was replaced by a short jacket after 1796) worn over a matching waistcoat and white, frilled-front shirt with a black neckcloth, and long white/grey pantaloons which may be a type of undress uniform. His black top hat, with a white-tipped [red] feather plume fixed to the left hand side, was the forerunner of the ‘shako’ (introduced in about 1800). He wears low cut flat shoes, or pumps, rather than boots and carries a sword on his left hip – the hilt and curved blade are just visible – suspended from a single white shoulder belt worn across the body.

What we know about this image

This image is believed to originate from an album of drawings belonging to Felipe Bauza (1764-1834) who sailed to New South Wales in 1793, as part of the Spanish Scientific Expedition (1789-94) to Australia and the Pacific, under the command of Alessandro Malaspina. The Spanish navy arrived in Sydney on 12 March 1793, to observe the British settlement, and departed a month later on 13 April. Bauza made several sketches during the expedition but these images could also be the work of José Cardero, a young, self-taught artist, who joined the expedition in 1791. In 1962 Bauza personal collection (gathered unofficially and perhaps secretly during the voyage) was offered for sale, and a few of the drawings relating to Australia were purchased by the SLNSW for the Dixson Galleries (Sydney Morning Herald, 7 April 1962, p.14). Among the works acquired were these two drawings, described at the time of their purchase as ‘Australia’s first fashion pictures’.

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What we see in this image

This caricature print shows a male guard (far left) leading a group of prisoners past the façade of London’s Newgate prison.

The guard carries a ‘cudgel’ (ie. a short stick used as a weapon) in his right hand.He wears a round hat, or cap, with a very narrow, upturned brim which sits above his natural hair, cut with a short fringe and contrasting side curls which suggest he is wearing a cheap, and ill-fitting wig. He also wears a long-skirted, single-breasted jacket (or frock coat) fitted with a wide, turn back collar, and cuffs above a long-skirted, cut-away, single-breasted, flap-pocketed waistcoat, with a spotted neckerchief tied over his white shirt, hiding any sign of a collar, knee breeches buttoned over striped stockings and leather shoes with large, square metal buckles at the instep.

The motley crew of 10 felons has been tied together with a rope. At the forefront of the group are two bearded men of generalised (ie. caricatured) Jewish appearance, followed by a knock-kneed, debauched youth taking a pinch of snuff, and a man gnawing on a large bone. The prisoners wear an array of well-worn, rumpled (and some ragged) garments; several seem also to have sold or pawned their shoe buckles.

What we know about this image

By the time this image was printed (c.1788) transportation of British convicts to the American Colonies had ceased, owing to the War of Independence (1775-83), which necessitated the use of decommissioned ships, or hulks, as temporary floating prisons anchored in the Thames River and at other locations around the British coastline. Apart from any private possessions convicts may have had, once imprisoned or transported they were forced to rely on government provisioning, which operated outside traditional patterns of clothes marketing that provided access to a complex network of shops selling new, made-to-measure and ready-made ‘slop’ clothing, and pawnbrokers and market stalls selling second-hand, stolen and cast-off garments.

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