Description

Extended Data

DAAO URL

https://www.daao.org.au/bio/joseph-arnold

Birth Place

Beccles, Scotland, UK

Biography

watercolourist, naturalist and naval surgeon, was born on 28 December 1782 in Beccles, Scotland, son of a tanner. Apprenticed to a surgeon, he received his diploma at Edinburgh in 1807. The following year he entered the Royal Navy and served aboard HMS Victory . In March 1809 he was transferred to HMS Hindostan , the ship accompanying Governor Macquarie to New South Wales with soldiers from the 73rd Regiment. Arriving at Sydney on 28 December 1809, Hindostan departed for England with Arnold on board on 12 May 1810. Unfortunately, Arnold’s diary for the voyage out no longer exists; the extant parts (ML) begin on the voyage home. Nevertheless, it is known that he was an indefatigable sketcher, producing 244 watercolour sketches of coastlines while outward bound, including views of Port Jackson, Botany Bay, Van Diemen’s Land and other parts of Australia (NLA, ML). These are described in Dawson Turner’s Memoir of Arnold: 'The handling and colouring of the sketches is coarse; their whole execution what might be expected from one untaught in art. But, on the other hand, they are effective and characteristic, and well calculated to answer their object’. Arnold revisited Sydney as the first officially appointed surgeon-superintendent on a convict ship, the Northampton , which arrived on 18 June 1815 with a consignment of female convicts. His second sojourn in Sydney was much less enjoyable than his first and he received a very inhospitable reception from Macquarie. His diary does not record any sketching activity at all before he left the colony on board the Indefatigable on 13 July 1815. On 24 October the ship burnt in Batavia, resulting in the loss of many of Arnold’s papers and natural history specimens. He finally reached England on board the Hope in 1816. In 1817 he went with Sir Stamford Raffles to Sumatra, not as a surgeon but as a naturalist. He died there on 26 July 1818. Writers: Holden, Robert Date written: 1992 Last updated: 2011

Born

b. 28 December 1782

Summary

Naval surgeon who accompanied Governor Macquarie on the voyage to Sydney in 1809. Arnold produced 244 watercolour sketches of coastlines while outward bound, including views of Port Jackson, Botany Bay, Van Diemen's Land (Tas.) and other parts of Australia. In 1815 he revisited Sydney as the first officially appointed surgeon-superintendent on a convict ship, the Northampton.

Gender

Male

Died

26 July 1818

Age at death

36