Oil on canvas, stretched and ready to hang.

Signed on the front.

When Baudin's expedition explored King Island they met up with a sealing gang, and François Peron described the men's camp.
There were four huts, built by driving pieces of wood into the ground at an angle so they met at the top, then filling the gaps with rough pieces of bark. The leader lived in his own hut, with a Hawaiian woman; the men in the other huts. There was one big fireplace for warmth and for cooking, and a big shelter nearby for oil barrels and dried seal skins.
The gang survived to a large extent by hunting emu, wallabies and wombats.
It must have been a harsh, lonely existence.