An idealized print of the imagined circumstances of the foundation of Sydney in 1789, with the town already established in the background. It lays emphasis on the natural resources of the land and its amenability to rearing European stock; the directive role of the Navy and military personnel involved; the presence of a gentlemanly civilian element among early arrivals (the man shooting on the left); British dominance over the Abroriginal population and the convict-colonists, with the latter being reformed by the redemptive qualities of labour.

Gosse did a similar print, apparently as a pair to this and dated 1796, commemorating William Bligh's 'Transplanting of the Bread-Fruit Trees from Otaheite'. This shows the plants being loaded there into a boat and probably alludes to his second voyage in the 'Providence' and 'Assistant' (1791-93), which successfully took the plants to the West Indies, rather than the previous 'Bounty' voyage which ended in the mutiny of 1789.