Title:
Emu Bay / T. Unwin.
Author/Creator:
Production:
[Tasmania] : T. Unwin, [between 1857 and 1860?]
Physical description:
1 drawing : ink and watercolour on paper ; 24 x 38 cm.
Medium:
paper; ink; watercolour
Format:
picture
image (online)
Notes:
Inscribed in trunk on lower centre of painting: "T. Unwin, Emu Bay."
Title inscribed on the reverse in pencil, in a possible later hand: "Emu Bay, Australia, 1837" [incorrect date] ; the paper is watermarked "G. Wilmot, 1857."
History note:
Thomas Unwin was born in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, in 1814, son of William Unwin, a gamekeeper. He arrived as a Van Diemen's Land Company indentured servant, with his wife Emma, on the Thomas Lawrie in 1840. The couple appear in the 1842 census for Circular Head. Van Diemen's Land Company records confirm he was a tenant at Emu Bay from at least August 1842 through to 1847, at minimum. He continued to farm in the area, died in 1873, aged 58. The Unwins are identified as pioneering potato farmers, also responsible for the introduction of rabbits and skylarks, in Richard Hidler's 'Real pioneers of Emu Bay'.--Advocate, 13 October 1934, page 5.
Summary:
The drawing depicts the early settlement of Emu Bay, from on board a ship unloading cargo. In the midground of the image three stevedores are using a counterweighted derrick to unload, with the characteristic basalt outcrop clearly visible in the image.
Condition:
Condition on accession: 2017. Drawing has fold marks, small tear in upper right corner ; small edge tears, wax seal residue on verso corners, paper is discoloured.
Form of work:
Drawing
Alternate Title:
Title on verso with incorrect date: Emu Bay, Australia, 1837
Citation:
Digitised item from: Tasmaniana Library, State Library of Tasmania.
Subjects:
Record ID:
SD_ILS:1236462
Electronic resources:
View online