The English and European public was avid with curiosity about this strange land in the sourthern ocean, and the artists' wroks wer consumed by books and journals dealing with the land's physical appearance, its flora and fauna, native people, towns and settlments. Any factual book relied heavily on the work of artists, both professional and amateur, to supplement the text. It is these printed illustrations of every sort of subject, from fish and flowers to panoramic vistas, that form the theme of this book

Cedric Flower's text discusses the lives and work of the artists and the development of the colony as it is depicted in the progression of the works presented. The etchings and engravings are selected as being representative of work of the major colonial artists.