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John White was born at Drumaran, County Fermanagh in north-western Ireland about 1756 – not England as is sometimes claimed.1 He entered the Royal Navy as a surgeon’s mate in 1778 and rose to naval surgeon; in this capacity he was appointed to serve as surgeon on the transport Charlotte in the First Fleet, which left Portsmouth for New South Wales in 1787.
In the 19th century, many artists trained in Europe came to Australia, where the strange new land often impacted on how they saw the world and what they depicted. French china painter Madame Bourdic did not succumb to the Australian environment. She continued to paint china in the academic tradition she had learned in France and Italy, and taught those delicate painting techniques to married and single women students in Melbourne.
Australian colonial artists sought to use local materials and to appropriate local motifs in their artworks for several reasons: to reflect the Australian origin of their work, to distinguish it from the art of other nations, and to foster a stronger sense of connection with the country. Moreton Bay pearls are one of the new, local materials used in jewellery in the 1850s and 1860s, but the study of their use has been neglected up till now. David Bedford looks into the history of the use of Queensland’s Moreton Bay pearls and discusses examples used in jewellery made by leading Sydney and Brisbane jewellers.
Edmund Edgar Bult (alias Edmund Edgar, c 1804–after 1852), a talented and respectable young London engraver cum cat burglar, ransacked the house of a young lady, only to be apprehended by a police constable while making his getaway. HRH Frederick Duke of York was among those who supported a plea for clemency, and his death sentence was commuted to transportation for life. On arrival in Sydney he was immediately employed as an engraver by the artist Augustus Earle, then by the engraver John Carmichael. He became an art teacher and accomplished portrait painter.
David Bedford cautions against using modern glues for antique furniture restoration, recommending instead that you stick with old-fashioned animal glues.
The NGV touted its landmark 2018 exhibition Colony as “drawing from public and private collections across the country, Colony: Australia 1770–1861 brings together the most important examples of art and design produced during this period.”1 Although the show has over 600 exhibits, John Hawkins claims the show did not live up to the marketing hype. He laments missed opportunities for showcasing major artefacts – many of which have been published in Australiana – and disputes some of the artefact descriptions and interpretation.
NSW has always had the most Australiana Society members. Though Sydney has held Australiana Society events since 1978, only recently have ‘chapters’ been established in Tasmania and Queensland, with their own committees and developing their own programs. South Australia has a ‘study group’ and convenor Peter Lane explains how it works.
