The sculpture "The First Step" was carved with mallet and chisel in wood by Fleischmann in his studio in London in circa 1950. This wood carving belongs to the collection in London. There is a photograph taken in Fleischmann's studio at Merioola, Sydney in the 1940s of a sculpture in clay of a very similar composition. It is likely that this clay sculpture did not survive after he travelled to London, but remained an inspiration for the wood carving a decade later.Then, in the 1970s, Fleischmann had two plaster casts of the wood carving made in London. One of the plaster casts has been acquired by a private collector, and the other is in the Fleischmann studio. A bronze in Sydney was cast under Fleischmann's supervision from the first of these plasters. There are also two small ink drawings on paper that were made in preparation for "The First Step", and these drawings are in the Fleischmann archive in London.