Relics of Encounter: Rapport and Trust in the Early Portraits of the Aborigines of New South Wales

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Author(s)
Findlay, Elisabeth
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2014
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In 1793, the artist Thomas Watling wrote to his aunt in Scotland and described his
unhappy experience of living in the colony of New South Wales.1 As a disgruntled
convict, Watling was far from impressed with his new surroundings; little escaped
his diatribe, from the dull landscape to the unfair policies of the Governor. While
Watling’s words are cheerless and dismissive of the fledgling community at Sydney
Cove, they still offer us tantalising insights into colonial life, particularly regarding
the colonisers’ interactions with the local inhabitants.
When Watling writes about the ‘hours’ that the ‘natives’ would sit with ...
View more >In 1793, the artist Thomas Watling wrote to his aunt in Scotland and described his unhappy experience of living in the colony of New South Wales.1 As a disgruntled convict, Watling was far from impressed with his new surroundings; little escaped his diatribe, from the dull landscape to the unfair policies of the Governor. While Watling’s words are cheerless and dismissive of the fledgling community at Sydney Cove, they still offer us tantalising insights into colonial life, particularly regarding the colonisers’ interactions with the local inhabitants. When Watling writes about the ‘hours’ that the ‘natives’ would sit with him and watch him work, he conjures up an intriguing scene of people from vastly different worlds sitting calmly together and observing each other. Watling noted that it is ‘no small compliment’ to the art of painting that it is found in different countries, observing that ‘several rocks round us have outr e figures engraven in them’.2 But such glimpses fuel further questions: Who were these Aborigines? Why were they so fascinated by Watling’s work? Could these moments of contact have changed the relationship between people who were of such different cultural backgrounds? This article analyses the portraits of Aborigines produced by artists working in Australia during the first two decades of the European settlement of New South Wales, concentrating on the period from 1788 through to the start of the nineteenth century. The images are examined in relation to European colonisation and Enlightenment thinking, as well as via an attempt to gauge the perspective of the sitters. The study is limited to portraits (as opposed representations of a ‘type’, or unnamed, anonymous, generic figures), because portraits inherently involve negotiation between the artist and sitter, and the nature of this exchange is the focus of this study. The portrait is analysed as a relic of encounter, an object that has survived historical vagaries and is the product of a particular meeting at a particular time.
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View more >In 1793, the artist Thomas Watling wrote to his aunt in Scotland and described his unhappy experience of living in the colony of New South Wales.1 As a disgruntled convict, Watling was far from impressed with his new surroundings; little escaped his diatribe, from the dull landscape to the unfair policies of the Governor. While Watling’s words are cheerless and dismissive of the fledgling community at Sydney Cove, they still offer us tantalising insights into colonial life, particularly regarding the colonisers’ interactions with the local inhabitants. When Watling writes about the ‘hours’ that the ‘natives’ would sit with him and watch him work, he conjures up an intriguing scene of people from vastly different worlds sitting calmly together and observing each other. Watling noted that it is ‘no small compliment’ to the art of painting that it is found in different countries, observing that ‘several rocks round us have outr e figures engraven in them’.2 But such glimpses fuel further questions: Who were these Aborigines? Why were they so fascinated by Watling’s work? Could these moments of contact have changed the relationship between people who were of such different cultural backgrounds? This article analyses the portraits of Aborigines produced by artists working in Australia during the first two decades of the European settlement of New South Wales, concentrating on the period from 1788 through to the start of the nineteenth century. The images are examined in relation to European colonisation and Enlightenment thinking, as well as via an attempt to gauge the perspective of the sitters. The study is limited to portraits (as opposed representations of a ‘type’, or unnamed, anonymous, generic figures), because portraits inherently involve negotiation between the artist and sitter, and the nature of this exchange is the focus of this study. The portrait is analysed as a relic of encounter, an object that has survived historical vagaries and is the product of a particular meeting at a particular time.
View less >
Journal Title
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art
Volume
14
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2014 Art Association of Australia and New Zealand. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Art History
Art Theory and Criticism
Visual Arts and Crafts
Portraits
Aborigines
European settlement
New South Wales
Artists