Lycett, Joseph (~1774 - ~1825)

At the Salop assizes Lycett had been sentenced in 1811 to transportation to the colony of New South Wales for a period of 14 years. His crime had been forgery. He was not chastened by his conviction, and in Australia printed hundreds of five shilling bills on a small copper-plate press. These were circulated in Sydney.

He was sentenced to a further term of imprisonment, this time in the penal settlement of Newcastle, where convicts usually had to work the mines. However, soon after his arrival, Captain James Wallis, an able amateur artist who had travelled to Australia on the same ship as Lycett, became commandant of the prison. Lycett, under Wallis's instructions, drew up plans for a church in Newcastle and, when the church was built, painted the altarpiece. Probably, he was also responsible for the three-light window which can still bc seen in Newcastle Cathedral.

After he obtained his ticket of leave, he made many drawings of the scenery of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. Governor Macquarie sent some of these, including a wide view of Sydney, to Earl Bathurst. Lycett was given an absolute pardon in 1821.

He sailed for London in 1822, and there published engravings made from his watercolour drawings as Views in Australia. The folios were bound and offered for sale for seven shillings plain and ten and sixpence coloured.

Extracted from: Jennifer Phipps (1986) Artists' Gardens - Flowers and Gardens in Australian Art 1780s-1980s, Bay Books, Sydney. [consult for source references]