From the time he arrived in Sydney in 1835, Conrad Martens travelled extensively through New South Wales, sketching views and scenes which he intended for later reference, to work into landscape paintings.

Mt King George, now known as Mt Banks, was first sketched by Martens in 1838. He made this painting in 1848, and entered it into the Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts Exhibition, held in Sydney in 1849. While Martens usually worked on commission, with clients approaching him to either create works of subjects in which they had an interest, or to select views from his sketchbooks which appealed to them, the financial downturn in the colonies in the mid-1840s meant that he had to look to other avenues to promote his work. Unfortunately, exhibitions like this did little build to interest in his work.