The Charlotte Medal

On display at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney

ONE OF FEW surviving First Fleet relics, the Charlotte Medal is often considered Australia’s first colonial work of art. It was commissioned by the Fleet’s surgeon-general, Irishman John White, and created by convicted thief and forger Thomas Barrett on board the convict transport Charlotte. One side depicts the Charlotte at anchor in

Botany Bay.The other side bears precise latitude and longitude details of major places the ship either passed by or stopped at during the eight-month voyage to the new colony.

Partway through the voyage, on 5 August 1787, as the ship lay at anchor off Rio de Janeiro, Barrett was caught passing ‘quarter dollars’ to local boat- men to buy food.White was impressed by Barrett’s ability to forge these coins from old buckles, buttons and pewter spoons, seemingly without fire or any necessary equipment, and later commissioned the convict to create a memento celebrating the Charlotte’s safe arrival in Botany Bay on 20

January 1788.The resulting Charlotte Medal is thought to have been crafted by Barrett from a surgical dish.

Sadly, little more than a month after arriving in the colony, Barrett was hanged for stealing food.White went back to England and in 1919, the medal turned up in the collection of the Marquess of Milford Haven. It was bought in 2008 for $750,000 by Australia’s National Maritime Museum.