The original oil painting by Charles Hill (1857), is part of the collection of The Art Gallery of South Australia. This black and white reproduction from the South Australiana collection at the State Library illustrates some of the details of the original, including the arched tree, known as the Proclamation tree at Glenelg.

On 28 December 1836 Governor John Hindmarsh stepped ashore at Glenelg marking the establishment of colonial government in South Australia. To the gathered colonists who had preceded him he read the proclamation calling upon them to,

...conduct themselves on all occasions with order and quietness, duly to respect the laws, and by a course of industry and sobriety, by the practice of good morality, and a strict observance of the Ordinances of Religion, to prove themselves worthy to be the Founders of a great and free Colony. It is also, at this time especially, my duty to apprise the Colonists of my resolution, to take every lawful means for extending the same protection to the native population as to the rest of His Majesty's Subjects.

Hindmarsh, John, Sir, 1785-1860