Augustus Earle in the Illawarra 1827

Now Bumberry Curren's pleasant vales 

and Appin's plains are past 

And Illawarra Mountain steep

we've got safe o'er at last.... (Augustus Earle 1827)

Augustus Earle was a wandering English journeyman artist - a watercolourist, lithographer and portrait painter who specialised in landscapes and figurative studies of native peoples, along with formal portraits in oil and watercolour. He was resident in New South Wales, Australia, at various times between 1825-8. He visited the Illawarra, located on the coast approximately 50 miles south of Sydney, during April - May 1827. At the time Earle was seeking picturesque landscapes and peoples for his art. As a result, he produced a series of watercolour sketches and developed some of these into a later oil painting dated 1838. The quote at the head of this article is a piece of doggerel verse written whilst recuperating at Appin after falling off his horse and breaking his leg whilst returning to Sydney from the Illawarra.

 

Doggerel Verse

When Augustus Earle visited the Illawarra in April-May 1827 he travelled from Appin to the top of the Bulli Mountain, then down the Old Mountain Road near Bulli and along the coast to Wollongong and Kiama. An outline of his adventures in Illawarra and the artworks he produced of the region are to be found in an article by the present author published in the Illawarra Historical Society Bulletin during April 1987. Earle's journey, and unfortunate fate therein, is also partially described in a piece of doggerel verse which he composed on 19 May at Mr Hassal's, Appin. The prose was included in a letter to a Mrs Ward, a copy of which is held at the Mitchell Library, Sydney (ML Ae23). The verse reads as follows:

 

Dear Madam I'm in duty bound

my troubles to reherse

And as I've lots of time on hand -

I'll give them you in verse

My friendship for your family -

induces me to do it

Tho' troubling you with doggrel rhymes -

is sure no way to show it.

I'll tell you of our journey too -

and what befel us there

And how I got my broken shin -

how I did growl and swear.

Twice three and one, our party, was,

right merry blades and true.

We leap'd over sprightly Cowisess back

`twas a pleasant sight to view

Two serving men brought up the rear -

with saddle bags well stowed

And blankets, boatcloaks, fire locks

made up a precious load

Thro' Liverpool and Campbelltown,

a western course we keep

But then our heads, we southward turn,

and steep towards the deep

Now Bumberry Curren's pleasant vales

and Appin's plains are past

And Illawarra Mountain steep

we've got o'er safe at last

We traversed Mountain Bog and Bush,

and Bivouaked at night

Determined hunger and fatigue,

we'd turn into delight

It was a curious sight to see,

us laying round our fire

Our teaster Heaven's Canopy,

our down bed on the biiyer

Thus roughing it and laying out,

chill'd by the frosty breeze

Twas nothing to the Stockmens huts,

where you're devoured by fleas.

The road now lay along the beach,

the surf roll'd at our feet

The glossy sands from ebbing tides,

by sounding hoofs were beat

The whole Five Islands now in view,

far in the distance stretch'd

The scene was charming, warm and clear,

I took my book and sketch'd

And now thro' Bush and Brake again,

we bend our devious way

Thro' verdant plains and lowing herds,

we rode nearly all one day.

Such tangled thicket now we pass'd,

such mighty trees we saw

Such giants of Australian growth,

now fill'd my mind with awe

They seemed to say "in future times,

we'll guard our native shore

Such Navies shall grow out of us,

as ne'er were seen before."

We now had reach'd a lovely spot,

by Farmer call'd his Farm

And hop'd to get our bellies fill'd,

with a drop to keep us warm

But O what horror we all felt,

when wide we gazed arround

To find a barren wilderness

of Gum trees most profound

Instead of finding here withall,

to pass a pleasant day

We trapesid up and down the Rocks,

and hungry went away

But keen our wits we bent on him,

who'd led us such a dance

I guess he wish'd he'd been at home,

or we'd all been in France.

For now we'd rid our journey through,

we'd time to look about

And though not used to riding much,

begin now to sing out

And when attempting to dismount,

such Oh's and Ay's they made

We thought their limbs were injured much,

and I felt sou afraid

Yet we all know that voyages long,

are made with far more ease

By all your copper bottom'd ships,

for they defy the seas.

I'd recommend to tars on shore,

when horses they will ride

To take a hind from what's above,

then they will stem the tide.

But now my jokes I must curtail,

my own mishap to tell

'Twas on the last days journey,

the accident befel

Me riding on quite soberly,

the day was closing fast

And shadows by the setting sun,

athwart the road were cast

While the red glare shone in my eyes,

which made by footing frail

A log of wood lay in the road,

my eyes it did assail

So violent the shock I felt,

crash crash there goes the bone

O here's a pretty mess I'm in,

I wish I was at home.

Condolence now came thick and fast,

as on the ground I lay

And all express'd a wish to serve,

if I'd point out the way

They hoist me on my horse again,

one led me by the head

And twenty miles I rode that night,

before I got to bed

At Mr Hassall's I sojourne,

on a bed of thornes I lay

I grunt and groan thro' all the night

the same thro' all the day

But all my rage and oaths I find

to fire's adding fuel

So I'll take the Nurse's old adage,

patience and Water Gruel.

May 19th 1827

I must tell you how all these beautiful poetic effusions came to light. The first few days of my confinement I amused myself by giving you a description of our journey and the accident which confined me in this house. The messenger not going to Town as I expected the letter remained by me, and being written in an almost unintelligible hand, owing to the awkward position I wrote it in, I concluded to write it over again, and feeling a rhyming propensity come over me, I een gave it full swing, and thus you have it. I have not any idea how long this leg of mine may confine me here, I have been now ten days, and this is the first I am (out) of bed; the (anguish) is unavailing tho' I am getting a little more power of the limb. I need not express to you my distress at not seeing Cooling before he sail'd, if my life had been depending on it I could not have reached Sydney. Make my respects to your bloming Daughters, and all inquiring friends, and believe me

Your sincere friend

Augustus Earle

Saturday (Morning) Macquarie grove, Cowpastures

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Earle had broken his leg on the 9th or 10th of May, and wrote the above verses while recuperating at Mr Hassall's Macquarie Grove property. In the same letter he notes that originally he wrote Mrs Ward a normal letter describing his Illawarra adventures, but as the writing was almost unintelligible due to the awkward position in which he lay, he tore it up and wrote the above descriptive verse in its stead. Earle's references within the verse to a night 'Bivouak' after getting over the Bulli Mountain are reflected in his 1827 collection of watercolours of the area and the magnificent oil A Bivouak of Travellers in Australia, in a Cabbage tree forest, Daybreak 1838 (National Library of Australia). This famous work contains a view of Earle's party camped half way down the Old Mountain Road at Bulli, and is based on one of the 1827 watercolours. In relation to this event, during 1991 a small park was dedicated on the lower section of the mountain at Bulli, near a residential development. Within that park, which marked the head of the easterly flowing Woodlands Creek, it was decided to erect a plaque commemorating Earle's visit. The Woodlands Park plaque included a reproduction of one of Earle's views of the Old Mountain Road. Perhaps in the future this park may serve as the set-off point for expeditions in search of the actual route, and any remains, of the Old Mountain Road. The last such expedition involving Illawarra Historical Society members occurred in 1968, after bushfires had cleared the area. Unfortunately we may have to wait for another such fire before we can rediscover any remnants of this historic road.

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Catalogue of Illawarra Works

1827 - Augustus Earle (1793-1838)

Augustus Earle arrived in Sydney from Hobart on 31 October 1825 and visited Illawarra during April-May of 1827, travelling as far south as Kiama. His entry to Illawarra was via the old Mountain Road, near present-day Bulli Pass. Halfway down the mountain he sketched the scene recorded in the watercolour A bivouack, daybreak, on the Illawarra mountains. During his visit Earle was obviously impressed by the lush, semi-tropical Illawarra forest and the rugged coastline, producing a number of small watercolours of his journey. Earle and his fellow travellers - making a party of seven - after descending the mountain at Bulli, rode south along the beaches and through the Illawarra bush to Mr Cowell's farm near Kiama. At Kiama, Earle produced a view looking north from Cowell's farm, along the coast towards Wollongong. Whilst returning to Sydney from the Illawarra, Earle fell off his horse near Appin and broke his leg. During his period of recuperation at Appin he wrote a doggerel verse briefly describing his Illawarra visit. Perhaps it was also during this interlude that he completed the series of small watercolours with an Illawarra theme. All known Illawarra works are listed below, with the majority in the National Library of Australia collection. 

 

Abbreviations

 

ML - Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.

 

NLA - National Library of Australia, Canberra. All such works cited below are illustrated in black and white in Hackforth-Jones (1980).

 

Oil - oil on canvas

 

W/C - watercolour on paper

1   Cabbage Tree Forest, Illawarra, New South Wales [1827]

W/C                                     25.7 x 17.1 cm                   NLA NK12/37

Illustrated Gleeson (1976, 45, colour); McDonald (1979, b/w); Jones (1988, 29, colour); Ritchie (1989, 98, colour).

 

2   Cabbage Tree Forest, Illawarra, New South Wales [1827] 

W/C                                     25.7 x 17.1 cm                        NLA NK12/38

Illustrated Ritchie (1989, 33, colour).

 

3   A Bivouac in New South Wales, daybreaking [1827]

W/C                                     25.7 x 17.1 cm                       NLA NK12/39

Illustrated McDonald (1979, b/w); France (1988, colour); Ritchie (1989, 69, colour).

 

4   The Hollow Tree on the Illawarra Mountains, New South Wales [1827]

W/C                                     25.7 x 17.1 cm                      NLA NK12/40

Also called A bivouac day break, on the Ilawarra mountains. Illustrated McDonald (1979, b/w).

 

5   Mr Cowell's Farm on the Coast, 60 miles South of Sidney [1827]

W/C                                     15.6 x 25.7  cm                     NLA NK12/44

View looking north towards Mount Keira near Wollongong, from above the harbour at Kiama.

6   View on the Coast of New South Wales - Illawarra [1827]

W/C                                     17.5 x 25.7                       NLA NK12/46

View looking south east towards Pulpit Rock, a volcanic feature located on the coast to the north of Kiama. Taken from a small cave in the nearby cliff.

 

7   Scene on the Coast of New South Wales - Illawarra [1827]

W/C                                     117.1 x 26                         NLA NK12/48

Precise location not known. Two people are seen in the foreground, standing next to a small campfire as one of them leans on a fallen tree. In the background is a creek or small lake.

 

8   Skirmish between Bushrangers and Constables, Illawarra [1827]

W/C                                     17.2 x 26                          NLA NK12/49

Illustrated McDonald (1979, b/w); Dovers (1983, p31, colour).

 

9   Curious Rocks and Natural Baths, New South Wales [1827]

W/C                                     17.8 x 26.3                       NLA NK12/50

Bathing pool at Wollongong Point.

 

10  Five Islands, off the coast of Illawarra, N.S.W. [1827]

W/C                                     18 x 53                             ML PXD265 f.9

View looking east across the harbour a Wollongong. The coastline to the north can be seen on the left side of the image, whilst on the right the harbour cove is exposed, with a vessel hauled up being repaired.

 

11  Illawarra, N.S.Wales [1827]

W/C                                     17.3 x 25.5                       ML PXD265 f.10

View looking south from Wollongong towards Red Point and the Five Islands off the coast.

 

12  The Five Islands District, Illawarra, N.S.Wales [1827]

W/C                                     28 x 54                             ML PXD265 f.11

View looking south east from the top of the Illawarra Escarpment down onto the coastal plain, with the Five Islands in the middle distance.

13  A Bivouac of Travellers in Australia, in a Cabbage Tree Forest, Daybreak [c1838]

Oil                                       118 x 82                           NLA NK14

Reproduced above - middle element reproduced below. Illustrated Gleeson (1976, p44, colour); Ritchie (1989, p68, colour).

 

 

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* Notes for the opening of Woodlands Park, Bulli, 14 April 1991. Ceremony performed by City of Wollongong Lord Mayor Frank Arkell.

Woodlands Park, Bulli

On Sunday, 14 April 1991, a dedication ceremony will take place at Bulli to set in place a plaque and name a hitherto unnamed piece of parkland on National Avenue, just under the escarpment to the south of the elbow at Bulli Pass. The land (formerly a block affected by slip) will be named Woodlands Park, in honour of the original title allocated by Captain Robert Marsh Westmacott to part of his northern Illawarra property which he held between 1837-47. The park is located just to the west of the 300 acre block originally granted to Cornelius O'Brien, but purchased by Westmacott in 1837.

This area of the Illawarra escarpment, just to the south of Bulli Pass and running off Georges Avenue, is of immense historical significance to the region, for it was through this land that the original Old Mountain Road into the Illawarra passed. This route was used by Charles Throsby to bring the first cattle into the district in 1815, and it followed the track which had been used by the local Aboriginal people for thousands of years. A detailed history of the various roads in this area and the fate of the Old Mountain Road (which was used sporadically until the 1930s but is now overgrown and `lost') is contained in Bill McDonald's The Oldest Road (Illawarra Historical Society). It is hoped that in the future the old track will be rediscovered and perhaps partially cleared to reveal some of the convict stonework to be found near its upper reaches.

In the meantime, our only record of the road is contained in Bill McDonald's comprehensive account, and within the various paintings of the area. Perhaps the most famous of these, and the most significant, are the set of watercolours taken by Augustus Earle in 1827, a number of which are reproduced in The Oldest Road, and one of which graces the Woodlands Park plaque.

When Earle visited Illawarra in April-May 1827 he travelled from Appin to the top of the Bulli Mountain, then down the Old Mountain Road and along the coast to Wollongong and Kiama. An outline of his adventures in Illawarra and the artworks he produced of the region are to be found in the IHS Bulletin of April 1987. His journey, and unfortunate fate therein, is also partially described in a piece of doggerel verse which he composed on 19 May at Mr Hassal's, Appin, and included in a letter to Mrs Ward (Mitchell Library, Ae23). The verse reads as follows:

[Verse reproduced above]

Earle had broken his leg on the 9th or 10th May and wrote the above verses while he was recuperating at Mr Hassall's Macquarie Grove property. In the same letter he notes that originally he wrote Mrs Ward a normal letter describing his Illawarra adventures, but as the writing was almost unintelligible due to the awkward position in which he lay, he tore it up and wrote the above descriptive verse in its stead.

Earle's references to a night `Bivouak' after getting over the Bulli Mountain are reflected in his 1827 collection of watercolours of the area and the magnificent oil A Bivouak of Travellers in Australia, in a Cabbage tree forest, Daybreak 1838 (National Library of Australia). This famous work contains a view of Earle's party camped half way down the Old Mountain Road at Bulli, and in based on one of the 1827 watercolours. The Woodlands Park plaque also contains a copy of one of Earle's views of the Old Mountain Road. Perhaps in the future this park may serve as the set-off point for expeditions in search of the path of the Old Mountain Road. The last such expedition involving Society members occurred in 1968, after bushfires had cleared the area. Unfortunately we may have to wait for another such fire before we can rediscover this historic road.

Michael Organ, 10 March 1991

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References

Bonyhady, Tim, Australian Colonial Paintings in the Australian National Gallery, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986, 270p.

----, The Colonial Image - Australian Painting 1800-1880, Ellsyd Press, Chippendale, 1987, 111p.

Buscombe, Eve, Artists in Early Australia and Their Portraits, Eureka Research, Sydney, 1978, 421p.

Dovers, Stephen (ed.), Illawarra Heritage, Illawarra Environmental Heritage Committee, Wollongong, 1983.

Earle, Augustus, Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in 1827; Together with a Journal of a Residence in Tristan D'Acunha, an Island situated between South America and the Cape of Good Hope, Longman, Rees, Orme, Green & Longman, London, 1832.

-----, Narrative of a Residence in New Zealand in 1827, Whitcombe & Tombs, Christchurch, 1909, 232p.

----- & E.H. McCormick (ed), Narrative of a Residence in New Zealand; Journal of a Residence in Tristan da Cunha, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1966, 270p.

Ellis, E.M. & D.G., Early Prints of New Zealand, 1642-1875, Avon Fine Prints, Christchurch, 1978, 328p.

France, Christine, The Illawarra & Environs: A Pictorial Survey, Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong, 1988.

Gleeson, James, Australian Painters: Colonial 1770-1880, Impressionists 1881-1930, Modern 1931-1970, Lansdowne Press, Sydney, 1976.

Hackforth-Jones, Jocelyn, `The portraits and watercolours of Augustus Earle', manuscript, BA(Hons) thesis, University of Sydney, 1974, 98p. Copy at NLA MS4910.

----, Augustus Earle: Travel Artist, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1980.

Jones, Shar, Early Painters in Australia, 1788-1880, Bay Books, Sydney, 1988, 208p.

Kerr, Joan (ed), The Dictionary of Australian Artists. Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992, 850-1.

McCulloch, Alan, Encyclopedia of Australian Art, F.A. Praeger, New York, 1968.

McDonald, W.G., Earliest Illawarra, by Its Explorers and Pioneers, Illawarra Historical Society, 1979.

-----, The Oldest Road, Illawarra Historical Society, Wollongong, 1976.

Minson, Marion, Encounter with Eden - New Zealand 1770 - 1870. Paintings and Drawings from the Rex Nan Kivell Collection, National Library of Australia, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, 1990, 78p.

Murray-Oliver, Anthony, Augustus Earle in New Zealand, Whitcombe & Tombs, Christchurch, 1968, 167p.

Ritchie, Rod, Seeing the Rainforests in Nineteenth Century Australia, Rainforest Publishing, Sydney, 1989.

Smith, Bernard, Documents on art and taste in Australia : the colonial period, 1770-1914, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1975, 299p. {700.994/9}

----, European Vision and the South Pacific, Harper Row, Sydney, 1987, 370p. {Folio 709.4/19}

Spencer, Harold Edwin, `Augustus Earle: A Study of Early Nineteenth Century Travel-Art and its place in English Landscape and Genre Traditions', PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1967. Copy at NLA microfilm G17198.

 

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Last updated: 15 September 2021

Michael Organ