Frederick Garling Jr. (1806 – 1873) worked as a customs official and was a prolific amateur watercolourist. Stationed at Port Jackson, he painted and documented vessels arriving in the harbour. Although, Garling Jr was not a classically-trained artist, his work remains an important insight into colonial life around Sydney.
He was the son of Frederick Garling (1775 – 1848), the first of two Crown solicitors appointed to the colony of New South Wales, on the recommendation of Jeffery Bent. With this new appointment, the Garling family departed from London on the Francis and Eliza in 1814. However, the ship was captured and plundered by an American privateer off the island of Madeira, delaying their arrival in Sydney and making Garling Sr. the second free-born solicitor to arrive in the colony.1 Soon after the Garling family’s arrival, Governor Macquarie appointed Garling Sr. as deputy judge advocate after the death of Ellis Bent, brother to Jeffery Bent, in November 1815.
Watercolour on paper (reprinted)
1839
Sydney Cove from Dawes Point
Frederick Garling
Hyde Park - the old days of merry Cricket Club matches
Thomas Harvey Lewis
Thomas Harvey Lewis (1828 – 1901) has only one known painting, Hyde Park – the old days of merry Cricket Club matches, a cricket match that took place on 27 October 1843 between a local Sydney team and a team representing an Imperial regiment then stationed in Sydney. In the background the Supreme Court, St James’ Church and Hyde Park Barracks can be seen.
Watercolour on paper (reprinted)
1870
Oil on canvas by John Skinner Prout (1805-1876), depicting a scene at Port Jackson from Dawes Point. Prout was a British painter, writer and lithographer who worked in Australia. He undertook sketching tours around the districts of Sydney between 1840 and 1844 and held exhibitions on the technique of drawing and painting. His work Port Jackson from Dawes Point depicts British soldiers at the Dawes Point Battery in Sydney overlooking the harbour and a group of nearby Indigenous Australians.
Oil on canvas (reprint)
1842
Port Jackson from Dawes Point
John Skinner Prout
Frederick Garling Jr. (1806 – 1873) was an English-born customs official and artist who worked in Australia from 1829 to 1859. He was an accomplished, self-taught amateur artist who specialised in maritime subjects. This watercolour painting depicting the view from Darlinghurst belongs to a Collection owned by the State Library of New South Wales.
Watercolour on paper
1835
View from Darlinghurst
Frederick Garling (Jr)