'Kangaroo Hunting Yorkes (sic) Peninsula', August 18, 1850: a watercolour.

Edward John Snell was an engineer, artist and adventurer and he recorded his travels in South Australia and Victoria in his diary, with candid, humorous descriptions and sketches.

Snell worked as a surveyor on Yorke Peninsula between June and September 1850. In that time he recorded encounters including numerous kangaroo sightings and several kangaroo hunts with Aboriginal men, including the use of dogs to help run down the animals. He wrote:

'...we startled a young buck which we killed after a sharp run of about 2 miles-the kangaroo and dogs were soon out of sight but the blacks (sic) followed up their tracks nearly as fast as I could run and when we got to the kangaroo he was laying dead with the dogs panting by the side of him.'

Another kangaroo was killed later. The surveyors skinned the kangaroos, kept the tails and gave the rest of the kangaroos to their Aboriginal helpers.

On 18 August he recorded the hunt again, where five kangaroos we killed. Again they kept only the skins and tails giving the rest to the Aboriginal people. He also described the cooking methods used. On other occasions the surveyors lent their hunting dogs, and were rewarded with the tails, which they used to make 'a glorious supper of soup...'

Later in 1852 Snell travelled to the Victorian goldfields to try his luck, and recorded daily life at the diggings.