Self-Guided Trail: Seeds of Change: Self-Guided Tour
Work 4 of 12

Banksia serrata, or the saw-tooth banksia, is widely distributed across eastern Australia, from Tasmania in the south, to Maryborough, Queensland, and is known by a variety of names across different Aboriginal language groups. When depictions of this banksia were disseminated through colonial scientific and commercial networks, it was assigned many more names. Lewin inscribed his watercolour with two: Banksia serrata and Embothrium speciosissimum. The first name belongs to the Linnaean system of nomenclature and identifies the plant depicted, while the second is the original name of the warada (Eroa) plant – the New South Wales waratah – whose own naming history is rich. Other names for this banksia, including ‘Old Man Banksia’, used by early colonists to signify the deeply gnarled appearance of its trunk and branches, and ‘honeysuckle’, add further layers to the plant’s history. The English naturalist John Lewin arrived in Sydney in 1800 with the intention of studying and recording the flora and fauna of New South Wales and today he is often considered to be the first official artist of the colony. Lewin’s early portraits of Australian flora offer us insight into how the Australian landscape was seen and used in colonial Australia.