 The second Sydney punchbowl had a much more circuitous journey to the present . The bowl first appeared in May 1932 , when Sir Robert Witt , chairman of the British National Art Collections Fund , wrote to James MacDonald , Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales , inquiring if a Sydney museum would be interested in acquiring the second punchbowl . The Gallery Director referred the offer to William Herbert Ifould , Principal Librarian of the Public Library of New South Wales , in August 1932 . Ifould wrote directly to Sir Robert Witt indicating that the bowl was not required by the Library as a very similar one was already held . Ifould received a reply dated 31 October 1932 , stating that during the intervening months the owner of the bowl in England – whose name was undisclosed – had since sold the bowl to another undisclosed buyer . The bowl 's subsequent whereabouts was unknown until 1988 . In the original offer by Sir Robert – who had also co @-@ founded the Courtauld Institute of Art in London – a suggestion was made that this bowl had been made to the order of Arthur Phillip , the first Governor of New South Wales ( in office 1788 – 1795 ) who established the settlement at Sydney Cove . However , no evidence to support this view was given in Witt 's letter . 
