 It is also possible the Sydney punchbowls may have had other purposes – to promote the fledgling settlement and to encourage new settlers . In 1820 , artist John William Lewin 's patron , merchant Alexander Riley , looking for ways to promote the New South Wales colony , stated : " It has long been a subject of our consideration in this Country that a Panorama exhibited in London of the Town of Sydney and surrounding scenery would create much public interest and ultimately be of service to the Colony " . This purpose is clearly set forth even in the title of William Charles Wentworth 's tome on New South Wales , which contained the engraving of Lewin 's Sydney Cove painting . The full title ends " ... With a Particular <unk> of the Advantages Which These Colonies Offer for Emigration , and Their Superiority in Many <unk> Over Those Possessed by the United States of America " . The punchbowls were also an opportunity to present the art of topographical panoramas in the form of a high status object and to portray the new colony in a more glamorous way than that of simply a remote convict colony as perceived at the time . 
