Tom Pow's beautiful, powerful poems examine the remarkable life of Thomas Watling. Watling was born in Dumfries in September 1762 and raised by a long-suffering maiden aunt. Convicted of forging Bank of Scotland one-guinea notes he was sentenced to fourteen years in the recently founded colony of Botany Bay in Australia.
The first professional artist to arrive in the colony, Watling was seconded to its Surgeon General (and amateur naturalist) John White. His pioneer paintings of birds, animals and the landscape became some of the principal records of the earliest days of Australia. He was eventually pardoned, on 5 April 1797, and left Australia, eventually returning home to Dumfries. He died there, most likely in 1814.
- ISBN13 9781846972874
- Publish Date 5 June 2014
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 9 October 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Birlinn General
- Imprint Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 112
- Language English