natural history painter and convict, was transported to Norfolk Island in the Admiral Barrington , arriving on 4 November 1791. Some sixty ink, watercolour and pencil drawings of the flora of Norfolk Island and New South Wales (Dixson Library) have been attributed to him. Although all are unsigned and undated, the Norfolk Island pictures demonstrably date from about 1791 to before Doody left the island on board the Kitty on 9 March 1793. The attribution has been tentatively made mainly on the basis of a letter written by Colonel W. Paterson to Joseph Banks. Paterson had arrived at Norfolk Island in December 1791 and remained there for fifteen months before being transferred to Sydney. His letter, dated 12 December 1794, thanks Banks for the offer to assist in publishing his proposed natural history of Norfolk Island and refers to the despatch of a 'box of specimens and some seeds’, together with the 'drawings of the Botanical part’ of his book. A postscript states: 'the drawings are done by a young man who came out in Barrington with me, a Convict, who has been my servant ever since … Jno. Doody’. Further investigation has yielded no additional information linking Paterson and Doody to the Dixson Library drawings, nor is there any provenance. Attempts to locate other works by Doody have also proved unsuccessful.
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- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
