Drawings of Aborigines and scenery, New South Wales, nla.pic-an2962715 One of the items of considerable significance in the National Library’s Pictures Collection is the bound volume commonly referred to as ‘the Lycett Album’. It contains twenty watercolours painted prior to 1828 by Joseph Lycett (c. 1775-1828). Although a number of European artists of the early colonial period, such as Nicolas Martin-Petit and Richard Browne, made portraits of Aboriginal people, it is rare to find paintings that show their daily life. Among Lycett’s watercolours are the only known depictions from the period of Aboriginal people engaged in activities such as spearing eels and eating meat from beached whales.