Joseph Backler was convicted for forging cheques and transported to Sydney in 1832. The convict indents describe him as being a painter, of fair and freckled complexion with sandy hair and hazel eyes, standing five feet and five inches.

He spent nine years at Port Macquarie and during this time produced many views of the settlement. He was granted a ticket-of-leave in 1842 on the condition that he remained in the service of Sydney framemakers, carvers and gilders Messrs Cetta and Hughes.

Backler made a number of versions of this view — clearly it was popular with his patrons, who do seem to have been Port Macquarie locals.