John Rae was a talented amateur artist whose sketches of Sydney were among artworks exhibited in international exhibitions in Melbourne and Calcutta and are among some of the most important views of mid 19th century Sydney. He produced images using a sketching camera which he then coloured by hand. This view across Hyde Park to Lyons Terrace (on Liverpool Street, Sydney, now demolished) was among a set which Rae gave to his friend and successor at council, Charles Woolcott.

(Image: Hyde Park looking across to Lyons Terrace, hand coloured photographic print by John Rae, 1842 STHC 88-124)