Tom Thumbs Lagoon, New South Wales, after Skinner Prout c1874

by Prout, John Skinner

Antique print of an aborigine spear-fishing in Tom Thumb Lagoon wetland near Coniston in the Illawarra district south of Sydney, between Wollongong and Port Kembla. Family watches and waits. in 1796 Matthew Flinders and George Bass named Tom Thumb's Lagoon after their small boat, Tom Thumb.

Original steel engraving by Edward Paxman Brandard (1819-1898), after a drawing by prominent English landscape artist and engraver John Skinner Prout (1806-1876) for Edwin Carton Booth’s Australia Illustrated published in London circa 1874 by Virtue and Company.

Skinner Prout was born on 19 December 1805 at Plymouth, England. On 14 December 1840 he arrived in Sydney with his wife and seven children. He brought a complete lithographic printing press with him, and in early 1841 he started producing lithographed versions of his drawings of Sydney. In January 1844 Prout moved to Hobart and commenced drawing Hobart and its environs for a series of lithographs. Skinner Prout went on many sketching trips throughout NSW, TAS and VIC, often accompanying sketching clubs that he helped to organize. Prout and his family returned to England in April 1848.

This antique print has fine later hand-colour. It is in good condition with wide margins, as published. Page size is 210 x 270mm (8.1/4 x 10.5/8). Image size is 115 x 182mmm (4 1/2 x 7 1/8 inches).