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W.J. Walton (from a sketch by Godfrey Charles Mundy), eagle…
Sale Title:
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
29-Nov-2020
Lot No.
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Description:
W.J. Walton (from a sketch by Godfrey Charles Mundy), eagle hawk neck (Tasmania), 1852 lithograph, from 'Our Antipodes, or, Residence and Rambles in the Australasian Colonies..., 12.5 x 20 cm., Godfrey Charles Mundy (1804-1860) was a soldier and author who came to Australia in 1846. His book on Australia was published in 1852. This image depicts a 'Dog line'. Following numerous escapes from the newly established Port Arthur Penal station in the early 1830s, Governor Arthur ordered the stationing of sentries at the Eaglehawk neck isthmus to prevent escapees from reaching the mainland of Tasmania. In 1832 an officer in charge, Ensign Peyton Jones of the 63rd Regiment, suggested that nine dogs and lamps lined up across the isthmus would provide an early warning system for the sentries. The initial idea was for the dogs to counter the noises of the sea and to alert the sentries to any activity. In the 1850s Port Arthur Commandant James Boyd wrote of the dogs: 'Many of them have not been off the chain for years and are consequently very savage'. The dogs remained in use as a deterrent to escape by this route until the late 1870s when the Port Arthur penal settlement was closed.
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Unclassified