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| Polynesian landscapes |
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George TOBIN was third lieutenant aboard HMS “Providence”, the ship of captain BLIGH, who was returning to Tahiti in April 1792 in order to achieve the mission which he had not been able to complete, following the loss of his first ship, the “Bounty”, after the mutiny of 1789.
As almost all naval officers of that time, Tobin’s mission consisted in jotting down as much information as possible on canvas or on paper; and although he was not particularly gifted at drawing, his watercolours proved to be excellent sources of geographical and ethnological information.
The “Mitchell Library” of Sydney has the majority of Tobin’s original drawings, which were nevertheless reproduced in certain tales, as the one of missionary John DAVIES. The illustration, which is the subject of the stamp which we present today, is extracted from one of these books. It represents O’Parrey Bay, a district covering the current commune of Pirae and which, at the time, partly encompassed the communes of Papeete and Arue. The vessel at anchor in the roads must be HMS “Assistant” which sailed in convoy with HMS “Providence”.
The book in which this illustration appeared was published on the 3rd of October of 1811 by the bookshop J. Gold of London – Engraver: Bailly.
C. Beslu. |
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