Colonial art in Australia Settlement in the Illawarra
Artists include: Richard Hoddle, Edward Close, Augustus Earle, Conrad Martens, Robert Marsh Westmacott, John Skinner Prout, Georgina Lowe, George French Angas, Louisa Atkinson, Eugene von Guérard, Samuel Elyard, Mickey of Ulladulla
Colonial Art in the Illawarra, NSW
Andrea Hope
Please note that most artworks on this page are those painted by the artist in relation to the Illawarra
Quick Overview
➢Most artists born overseas & often paintings reflected their own familiar landscape colours
➢Many artists were either trained as draftsmen, were convicts, or amateurs
➢Drawings and watercolours (with a limited palette) were most popular because of cost and portability
➢Mainly focused on the picturesque - landscapes and early settlement
➢Either a ‘Realist’ or ‘Romantic’ style - not contentious
➢Professional travelling artists began to visit Australia in the early 1800s, and were often interested in making prints (lithographs and etchings) to increase the possibility of sales - interest in creating editions of works
➢The Mechanics School of Art was opened in 1833 to promote culture and the National School of Art gave its first lecture there in 1843
➢The 1st exhibition of colonial art held at the Chamber of Commerce in 1872
➢The Academy of Art was founded in the 1870s - it was later to become AGNSW
➢The Art Society of NSW was formed in 1880
Settlement in the Illawarra
Although the Illawarra area had been discovered by the early explorers by ship, settlement in the Illawarra didn't begin until the early 1800s - the initial colonial expansion in NSW was to the poorer, but more accessible, lands close to the small settlement at Sydney Cove.
Wheat crops were grown around Sydney Town, and then at Ryde and Parramatta.
Subsequently the richer lands of the Hawkesbury and Nepean, and the rich pasture lands about Camden were discovered - leading to settlement along the edge of the Blue Mountains on the west, opening up the districts of Windsor, Richmond and Penrith; and in a south-westerly direction, opening up the districts of Liverpool, Campbelltown, Camden, etc.
Cattle were also introduced into these areas, but with their increasing numbers, and periods of drought, feed became scarce, so locating fresh land for pasture was critical.
As a result, from about 1810, to at least 1858, many cattle were brought to Illawarra from the north by boat for grazing on the grassed lands surrounding Lake Illawarra, extending along the Coast from Red Point (Port Kembla) southerly to the Minnamurra River, and in a westerly direction along the Valley of the Macquarie Rivulet.
JH Carse, Bulli Pass, Wollongong,
The Sydney Gazette of 18 March 1815, reported that:
“A considerable extent of fine grazing ground is described by late travellers to be about the Five Islands, to which, however, it would be thoroughly impracticable to convey cattle by land.”
Gerringong Harbour
Conrad Martens, Boat Harbour Wollongong, 1835
Landowner Charles Throsby of Bong Bong arrived in the district from the west, cutting a track from Appin and Bulli, with the assistance of two local Aborigines and his employee, Joseph Wild. He established the first cattle station at Wollongong in 1815.
In the same year, Wollongong harbour was first used for the shipping of cedar.
Cedar cutting had also become an important industry in the young Colony, and it was inevitable that the cedar cutters would find a way to reach the Illawarra to access of this valuable soft wood.
In his book, A History of Illawarra and Manaro, published in 1872, Judge McFarland reported:
"Cedar was carried from the inner shores of Lake Illawarra, in small craft, during convenient periods to Sydney in 1810 - and bullock teams used to haul cedar logs and planks to the edges of the Lake”.
Mr David Smith, of Kiama, who first came to the Illawarra in 1821, was one of the early cedar cutters. He wrote
"there was scarcely a creek or stream, valley, ravine or gorge between Bulli and Broughton Creek, that was not dotted with cedar trees, many being of great size and beauty".
In particular, the country about Kiama seems to have been specially prolific in cedar timber, for Mr Smith mentioned that the site now occupied by the town of Kiama "had some noble cedars upon it".
So, pioneers of these two important industries were seeking access to the Illawarra at about the same time - the cedar cutters for its wealth of Red Cedar and the cattlemen for its pasturage. It is mainly through their combined efforts that the difficulties in reaching Illawarra across the northern mountain were ultimately overcome.
Development was fairly rapid from the 1830s as convict labour was used to build roads and more settlers moved into the region, and crops such as wheat and corn were introduced.
Wollongong and Port Kembla were considered to be the ‘hub’ of the Illawarra and in June, 1829, a Gazette notice announced that the Five Islands, Kiama, Gerringong, Shoalhaven, Coolangatta, and Ulladulla were proclaimed post towns.
Abraham Lincolne, 'Waugh-hope', Jamberoo, Illawarra, 1840-45
However, by the 1840’s most of the available cedar had been removed and with the large areas of land cleared by timber getting, unsuitable for any large-scale production of agricultural products the area began to give way to a growing dairy industry.
Coal was first discovered in the Illawarra in May 1797. A group of shipwrecked sailors found coal and made a fire near Austinmer. They were making their way to Port Jackson on foot along the east coast after their ship had been driven ashore in the Bass Strait. They were soon rescued by a fishing boat near Wattamolla.
Governor Hunter sent Dr. George Bass to the area in August of that year in the company of one of the survivors to confirm the discovery. Bass reported sighting coal seams at Coalcliff and Austinmer.
Louisa Atkinson, Coal Mine Mt Kiera c1849 - 72
Wollongong Harbour, 1887
However, more than 50 years passed before the first coal mine in the Illawarra opened at Mount Keira in 1849 - then more collieries opened to mine coal seams which outcropped along the escarpment.
From this period, around the 1850s, the Illawarra began to become industrialised, with the introduction of coal mines, coke ovens, smelting works and jetties. The population continued to grow steadily.
Earliest Colonial art in the Illawarra
The first art Colonial painted in the Illawarra, which is still in existence, appeared around 1817.
The earliest European artist known to have worked in Illawarra was surveyor-explorer George W. Evans, who travelled overland from Jervis Bay to Appin, via Wollongong, in 1813. Unfortunately none of the works he noted in his journal as having made during this expedition survive.
Although this article focuses on art produced by colonial artists working in the Illawarra, historian Michael Organ has made an interesting discovery - that it is likely that the first European discovery of the Koala was made at ‘Hat Hill’ (Mount Kembla) in the Illawarra district between June-September 1803.
Specimens were taken to Sydney during August that year and were immediately drawn by botanical draughtsman Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826), a member of the HMS Investigator survey and scientific expedition under Captain Matthew Flinders.
The drawings, descriptions and portions of the deceased animals were sent to England shortly after, between 1803 and 1805. A number of watercolours by Bauer dated c1811 are housed at the Natural History Museum in London, but they may include original 1803 drawings.
It was not until Bauer's watercolours were included in a 1997 Australian exhibition that it was noticed that the accompanying catalogue noted in passing that they were of a specimen "Shot at 'Hat Hill', New South Wales, June-September 1803".