Heaphy, Charles 1820-1881 :Ye diggings. [1852]

A group of officers from H. M. S. Pandora on a goldmining picnic at the Coromandel, occupied with goldmining, eating and drinking and hunting.

The Pandora's Master at this period was Thomas Kerr

Inscriptions: Recto - Cartoons on Great National Subjects - No. 3. [overall title top left]. Ye Gold Commissioner speculateth on ye amount of ye licence fees [i. e Charles Heaphy, seated cross-legged on the top of a hill]; Jones lot - no. 1. Bob. [Theodore Morton Jones atop another hill shooting at something, with the dog Bob at his side, top right]; Experiment on ye ductility of ye metal [ an officer in the centre of the picture, sliding head first down a hill into his pan of gold]; An erratic boulder [another officer falling on his back, centre picture]; Preparatory process moistening ye clay [an officer lying back emptying a bottle of alcohol]; Good diggings [an officer with food in both hands, about to place a forkful in his mouth, left foreground]; Ye thoughtful provideth for the future. Dove Cot No. 2 [an officer carting a heavy wooden gold cradle]; Shiney [i.e. shiny?]; surfacing [two men, one flat on his face, scratching the ground, with a pan of gold in front of them]; Ye nugget [ a very small gold nugget, centre left foreground]; Ye Master contemplateth his nugget [i. e. the ship's Master viewing a minute nugget]; Clay sheweth igneous action [several clay smoking pipes on the ground, right foreground]; Variety of quartz [the drinking mugs on the ground, right foreground]; Ye medical officer prepareth to open (quartz) skin [the Pandora's doctor, Dr John Jolliffe, "lancing" a rock from which gold is "bleeding" into a pan held by another officer].

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Pencil & watercolour 139 x 229 mm