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SUMMARY: Twelve wash drawings of South Australian scenes – natural, Aboriginal and rural – dated January 1849. The sketches may have been intended to be lithographed by recently arrived Penman, Galbraith and Campbell. Or perhaps they were for Captain E.C. Frome, Surveyor General and Colonial Engineer just before his departure for England.
Article type: CATALOGUE
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S.T. Gill executed three sets of wash drawings of South Australian scenes illustrating aspects of the colony for an English audience.
These and later typical South Australian scenes by Gill seem to derive inspiration from J.F. Bennett's 1843 book "Historical and Descriptive Account of South Australia" (see S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes – Bennett).
The latest of the three sets is this collection of twelve wash drawings held by the National Library of Australia (NLA) – NLA NK7063/1 to NK7063/12. Gill titled them (lower right), appending "So. Australia" (South Australia) to each, indicating an intended audience beyond the colony.
All the works have a further caption, "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849", with four specifically noting 24th, 27th and 29th January. The date caption is in a different script from the title. With such a diverse range of subjects, they are clearly not Gill's field dates. It's reasonable to assume the works in this set were executed around January 1849. The dates don't form part of Gill's title for each work so I have omitted them from the titles here.
It's possible this set – a neat dozen – was intended for lithographing by Penman, Galbraith and Campbell who'd arrived in Adelaide a few weeks earlier. In September the following year James Allen's Adelaide Times saw similar scenes for lithographing:
We had the pleasure of a look in at Mrs Gill's studio, and were delighted with a number of sketches of colonial life and scenery, in sepia and Indian ink, which are, we understand, to be lithographed and published. They are exceedingly happy and life like, and must go far to support that character for original and effective style which Mr Gill has acquired.1
Or perhaps the set was for E.C. Frome. The only other Gill works to bear such similar date captions are the set of Six Sectional Sketches at the Kapunda Copper Mine for E.C. Frome. They are dated 10 and 12 February 1849. The handwriting seems the same across both sets. At the time Frome was preparing for a return to England and perhaps this January set too was painted for Frome. (Possibly the several dates indicate when Frome obtained the pictures from Gill.)
This set, especially Stockman, is the beginning of Gill's trademark signature in which the "G" is reminiscent of a stock whip. Stockman is also the best example of correspondence between Gill's image and Bennett's text.
1. Adelaide Times, 20 September 1850: 3. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207119190>
You can scroll down to see all pictures along with detailed notes or click a link to jump to a specific work from the list.
Kangaroo & grass tree, So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/4
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
Kangaroos and grass trees (Xanthorrhoea sp.).
Gill revisits the subject of his earlier "Kangaroos and grass tree" (NLA R372) – see S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes – Bennett.
Kangaroos are described in Bennett (1843) 44.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849".
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Emu, So. [i.e South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/5
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
Gill revisits the subject of his earlier "Emus and she-oak tree" (NLA R377) (but without the casuarina) – see S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes – Bennett.
Emus are mentioned in Bennett (1843) 46, 47.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849".
91
Native stalking emu, So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 24, 18-- | National Library of Australia NK7063/7
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
Two Aboriginal men, with spears and spear-throwers, disguise themselves with branches as they stalk a pair of emu.
Gill revisits the subject of his watercolour for E.J. Eyre – SLNSW PX*D 73 f.7 – see S.T. Gill, E.J. Eyre and "Symmetry", 1844.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 24 ... 18...".
93
Native method of climbing the trees when hunting oppossums [i.e. opossums], So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/11
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
This is a scene with three Aboriginal people – one climbing a tree beside a stream to hunt a possum, while two others wait below.
Gill revisits the subject of his earlier "Natives hunting opposums [i.e. opossums]" (NLA R375) – see S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes – Bennett.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849".
97
Native method of obtaining fire, So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/6
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
An Aboriginal man sits in a shelter and prepares to make a fire. He wears a Government issued blanket. Two people are in the background.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849".
92
Natives of So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 29th, 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/10
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
An Aboriginal man, woman and child are in front of their a shelter, a fire going. The man wears an animal skin and the woman a Government issued blanket.
Gill revisits the subject of his earlier "Natives Worley [i.e. wurley]" (SLV H3485).
"Their dwellings or encampments consist of slight temporary erections, forming nothing more than a kind of break-weather. In summer, these huts or wurlies are composed of a few branches laid upon each other, forming a semicircle. In winter they are more particular with their dwellings. They erect a kind of hut similar to the half of a beehive, formed of branches, having the interstices filled up with bark, grass, and mud." Bennett (1843) 63.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 29th 184[9]".
96
Native sepulchre, So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 27th, 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/2
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
The scene is of an Aboriginal elevated mortuary platform near a stream, with birds descending. Below a dingo drinks from a pool or stream. A lake or bay is in the background, suggestive of a setting at Lake Alexandrina / the Coorong. Grass tree and honeysuckle are absent.
Gill captions this location simply as South Australia, not Myponga or Coorong, suggesting his work on this subject was shifting to genre.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 27th 1849".
See also S.T. Gill - Subject - Native Sepulchre.
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Native dance or corroberie [i.e. corroboree] So. [i.e South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/12
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. 40
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
The scene is an Aboriginal corroboree around a fire on a full moon; sparsely treed hills in the background; men at right dance with spears or sticks; women seated at left provide accompaniment; two people are clothed and the rest are naked.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849".
See also S.T. Gill - Subject - Corroboree.
98
Native dogs, So. [i.e South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/9
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
A family of dingoes and a skeleton, presumably of a sheep.
This picture revisits the theme of dingoes killing sheep pictured earlier in NLA R373 – see S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes – Bennett.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849".
95
Shepherd, So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/1
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
A shepherd smokes a pipe and leans on his gun, his dog at his feet, while watching the sheep.
"The sheep are always driven at night into the pens, which are formed of movable hurdles, and the shepherd or hut-keeper, with his dog, sleeps in a movable box placed close to the fold. At sunrise the flock is counted out of the pens and sent out to graze, the shepherd attending them constantly until they return in the evening." Bennett (1843) 97-98.
The shepherd, sheepdog and flock became an ongoing subject of Gill's. Years later he showed the shepherd asleep on the job while the dog remains watchful. "Sleeping Shepherd" was one of his 1855 "Sketches in Victoria" lithographs.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849".
87
Bushmen, So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 29/4- | National Library of Australia NK7063/8
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
Two colonists on horseback walk their horses accompanied by their kangaroo dogs. Smoke rises from a distant fire.
The character with the grey horse, beribboned hat and kangaroo dogs is reminiscent of J.A. Horrocks who had died two years earlier. (For comparison see SLSA B 34383, SLV H8213, AGSA 997P40, AGSA 997P38, AGSA 0.1126),
"The kangaroo is the largest quadruped found in the country. This singular animal has already been so often described, that it is unnecessary here to give a particular account of it. Kangaroos are found in great numbers in most of the districts of South Australia; although they gradually seem to retire into the interior as civilisation advances. A kind of hound, something like the Scotch stag-hound, is common in the country, for hunting them. The kangaroo is very shy, and it is seldom the hunter can get one within rifle range. Most of them are therefore taken with the hounds." Bennett (1843) 44-45.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 29/4[9]".
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Stockman, So. [i.e. South] Australia, Adelaide, Jany 1849 | National Library of Australia NK7063/3
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1848-11~/1849-01 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes - January 1849
A mounted stockman, with stock whip trailing, leaps over a log in pusuit of cattle running to his left.
[Each stockman] "is furnished with a good serviceable horse, and an immense whip, which he handles with great dexterity. The handle of the whip is only about eighteen inches long, but the lash is from ten to fourteen feet in length. Such a ponderous looking affair seems rather unwieldy in the hands of anyone but a stockman, but by him it is used with the greatest ease and effect, even when mounted, and his horse going at full gallop. In following the cattle, or searching for such as may have strayed, stockmen always go on horseback, and they are expert and fearless riders." Bennett (1843) 100.
The stockman became a frequent subject of Gill's.
The "G" of Gill's signature is reminiscent of a stock whip – this style becoming his trademark signature.
Gill titled the work. Captioned (in a different script to the title): "Adelaide, Jan'y 1849".
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David Coombe, original February 2022, updated 29 August 2025. | text copyright (except where indicated)
CITE THIS: David Coombe, 2022-2025, S.T. Gill's Set of South Australian Scenes – January 1849, accessed dd mmm yyyy, <https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill's_Set_of_South_Australian_Scenes_January_1849.htm>