Port Lincoln Bay: View from behind Memory Cove. After William Westall, artist on the HMS Investigator.


Matthew Flinders was one of the greatest navigators and explorers of the early 19th century; he sailed to the Pacific three times and was the first to complete a full circumnavigation of Australia.

Accompanying Flinders on his voyage was the artist William Westall, a 19-year-old student recently enrolled at the Royal Academy. In all he produced nearly 150 drawings and was later commissioned by the Admiralty to produce nine oil paintings. His Australian paintings were well received, exhibited in London in 1810 and 1812, and precipitated his election to the Royal Academy. He went on to work successfully with the publisher Rudolph Ackermann producing landscapes of British scenery and cityscapes. Westall did not undertake any great voyage again and his Australian views ultimately became those for which he is best remembered