This view of Port Jackson is from Lieutenant-Colonel George Barney’s residence, on Dawes Point looking east. Barney was the first Colonial Engineer.

Close to the water, a group of Aboriginal people gather around a fire. The foreground includes soldiers, field pieces and cannons — all part of Dawes battery, constructed from 1791. It was levelled for the construction of the Harbour Bridge.

The hills on the left are the lower portions of the north shore. Across the water to the right is the new Government House.

This painting so closely resembles a lithograph published in Sydney Illustrated, by Prout and Rae, 1842, that it is likely to have been copied from that work, although it is possible it was painted by Prout.