Joseph Lycett

Joseph Lycett (c.1774 – 1828) was a portrait and miniature painter, active in Australia. Transported to Australia for forging banknotes, Lycett found work in the colony as a painter specialised in topographical views of the major towns of Australia, and some of its more dramatic landscapes. Early life Lycett was born in Staffordshire, England, where he became a botanical artist. By 1810, Lycett was described by others as an engraver and as a drawer; he was also noted as being a painter of portraits and miniatures. Lycett had a de facto wife, Mary Stokes, known as Mary Lycett. Convict years Newcastle Lycett was convicted of forgery on 10 August 1811, having been prosecuted by the injured party: the Bank of England. He was transported to Australia, sailing aboard the General Hewitt and arriving in Sydney on 7 February 1814. Lycett's first employment in Australia was as an artist for Absalom West and he reported in the October 1814 muster as a limner (painter). West left the colony in December 1814 and Lycett had to find a new position; by May 1815 Lycett was employed in the police office. At this time Sydney was flooded by hundreds of skilfully forged 5 shilling bills drawn on the postmaster. They were traced to Lycett, who was found in possession of a small copper-plate press. Lycett was sent to Newcastle on the Lady Nelson, where he came to the attention of the commandant of the settlement, Captain James Wallis. Lycett drew up the plans for a church which Wallis projected and, when it was built in 1818, he painted the altar piece; he is said to have also produced the three-light window which still survives in the bishop's vestry of Newcastle Cathedral. On the recommendation of the commandant, Captain James Wallis of the 46th Regiment, Lycett was given a conditional pardon. While there he also painted Corroboree at Newcastle, the first known oil painting to depict an Aboriginal corroboree at night. This painting has also been attributed to Wallis. Lycett painted at least 14 scenes depicting traditional cultural practices of the Awabakal people. The "Chief of the Newcastle tribe", Burigon, is shown in at least one of the works of the convict engraver, Walter (or William) Preston, which were based on Lycett’s drawings.