Art and Patronage in Early Colonial Melbourne: John Pascoe Fawkner and William Strutt

Abstract

JOHN PASCOE FAWKNER, the self-declared founder of Melbourne, possessed many amusing and curious habits. Amongst them was his rather eccentric routine of trekking down to the wharves to greet all new arrivals to the colony.2 We can with some certainty speculate that Fawkner was on the docks when the frigate the Culloden sailed into port in July 1850, standing ready to extend the hand of friendship to the young British artist William Strutt as he disembarked. The two men quickly formed a close acquaintance and as their partnership developed they became united in their determination to create enduring and inspiring images of the people and events from Melbourne’s embryonic history. Fawkner was Strutt’s most constant and stalwart patron.