Wombats

Nicolas-Martin Petit and Charles Lesueur signed on as crew members of Le Geographe, keen to travel to the undiscovered lands of New Holland. As the expedition artists, they were among the first Europeans to portray the land, people, animals, plants and marine life of South Australia. Lesueur's Le Wombat was sketched on King Island, Tasmania.

This beautiful plate is one of many artistic depictions from the Atlas historique : du Voyage de decouvertes aux terres australes, by Charles Alexandre Leseur and Nicolas-Martin Petit. This atlas forms part of Francois Peron's publication Voyage de decouvertes aux terres australes.