The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.
Wax impression of obverse of the first Great Seal of New South Wales 1792
The colony's first territorial seal was approved by King George III on 4 August 1790 and arrived in Sydney in September 1791. The Royal Warrant describes the design on the obverse as:
Convicts landed at Botany Bay; their fetters taken off and received by Industry, sitting on a bale of goods with her attributes, the distaff [a spindle for spinning wool or flax], bee-hive, pick axe, and spade, pointing to an oxen ploughing, the rising habitations, and a church on a hill at a distance, with a fort for their defence. Motto: Sic fortis etruria crevit [So, I think, this is how brave Etruria grew]; with this inscription round the circumference, Sigillum Nov. Camb. Aust. [Seal New South Wales]
'A New Seal', 1917: 872
From the collections of the
(Mitchell Library (from Edward Varndell - Land Grant, 22 Feb. 1792, and associated transfer document, 24 Jan. 1830))