Robert Hoddle Dec.1845 near source of Yarra Yarra River Starvation Creek

In the summer of 1844–45, the surveyor Robert Hoddle conducted an expedition to find the source of the Yarra River. Hoddle found the country rugged, and surveying the steep rocky gullies was a slow process. In December 1844, the party reached the Yarra's junction with a tributary, which Hoddle called Starvation Creek because of the lack of feed for his stock.

The artist has depicted the survey party at camp in the heavy forest of the Upper Yarra Ranges. Hoddle is shown seated on a rock in the middle foreground. His initials RH and the date 1845 are marked on a tree in the lower right of the painting. The location of the scene is unknown, as there is now no waterfall at the junction of Starvation Creek and the Yarra River.

The painting is reputedly based on a watercolour sketch by Robert Hoddle held in the State Library of New South Wales. Hoddle was a skilled artist and his sketches were used by other artists, such as Henry Gritten and Thomas Clark, as the basis of their historical paintings.

The painting was exhibited at the Annual Exhibition of Fine Arts held at the Collins Street studio of sculptor Charles Summers in 1862.