Bungaroo is the site where Governor Arthur Phillip and party camped on the night of 16 April 1788 on the first expedition of any European into the interior of Australia. For this reason, it is of extraordinarily significance in modern Australian history and all that followed.
It is to this day a place of astonishing natural beauty preserved as part of Garigal National Park. It is also my home, as I live on the border of the park as represented by the hand in the painting. The painting is a map of the area and every element represents part of the geography and natural life and abundance of the area. To my joy I enjoy the extraordinary wildlife in Bungaroo, which is my back yard, even though I live in metropolitan Sydney. That is an extraordinary accomplishment of the founders of the park and subsequent custodians.
The expedition’s purpose was to find arable land that could supply the Colony with agricultural products. The colony at Sydney Cove was dependent on supplies from England as the soils around the harbour were too poor to support crops. They would have anchored upstream of Manly proceeding further upstream on smaller boats up to the rocky bar which separates the salt waters of Middle Harbour from the fresh water of the Creek. You can still walk there and see why no boat could get any further. They would have camped here and enjoyed their rations of dry biscuits and rum!
In the expedition journals, it was recorded "the most desert wild and solitary seclusion the imagination can form any idea of". It has not changed. I often walk in the bush and rarely ever see another person. It is the only place recognizable in the colonists' writings of 1788 which now remains unchanged from that time to today. This little corner of bush looks today exactly as it would have done to Governor Phillip's expedition.
After camping overnight, they clambered up the steep rocky valley. Eventually they got high enough where the Blue Mountains were first sighted. Governor Phillip realized on seeing such large mountains that they must have a large river with rich soils, which later led the colonists to the Parramatta River and flat fertile plains that surround the river as it heads for the sea via Port Jackson past the today’s Opera House.
Paintings are available by commission.