The Sketchbook of fishes is in the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts. It contains thirty-six watercolour paintings.
William Buelow Gould (c1801-1853) was transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1827. While under sentence at Macquarie Harbour he was instructed to paint botanical and fish species. Read more about Gould
Gould's Sketchbook of fishes was part of the National Treasures: From Australia's great libraries exhibition in 2007. In 2011 it was recognised as a document of world significance. It is now on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.
The work inspired Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan to write his novel, Gould's Book of Fish: a novel in twelve fish, published in 2001.
In 2013 filmmaker Bernard Lloyd began a collaborative project with the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts to explore Gould's sketchbook, its fishes, and the man who painted them
Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish