david coombe history
SUMMARY: Gold dominated interest from May 1851. This article covers the period from then up to December 1851. During this time George French Angas leaves Adelaide, paints the New South Wales diggings, then returns at year's end. Gill lithographs Adelaide street scenes, becomes insolvent and makes portraits of race horses. All the while people are looking to the east and gold.
Article type: NARRATIVE & CATALOGUE
In this article ...
The artist and naturalist George French Angas had (again) left South Australia in March 1851. He intended returning to New Zealand to reunite with Governor George Grey, and to paint.1
To pay his way Angas sold "original" works in stopovers in each of Melbourne2 and Sydney. In Melbourne it would appear Angas got a "press release" to The Times (formerly the Port Phillip Gazette). A glowing personal background was followed by a list of 21 itemised artworks, most of them of New Zealand subjects, but also eight South Australian subjects:1
At Sydney, in May, Angas left some New Zealand pictures for sale with Sands and Kenny in George Street;3 booked a passage – not for New Zealand but for Tahiti (with missionary L.E. Threlkeld);4 and went south to the Illawarra for a week of sketching. Things would dramatically change that week.
The major gold discoveries in New South Wales were initially reported in Sydney in April 1851 and in Adelaide in May. But the news got real legs after the Bathurst Free Press of 10 May:
[Edward Hargreaves] has established a company of nine working miners, who are now actively employed, digging at a point of the Summer Hill Creek near its junction with the Macquarie, about 50 miles from Bathurst and 30 from Guyong. Ophir is the name given to these diggins ... The principal localities mentioned by Mr. Hargraves, where he had discovered gold, were Summer Hill, Guyong, and Lewis' Pond Creeks. He also found gold at Dubbo, below Wellington ... The suddenness with which the announcement of a discovery of such magnitude has come upon us–a discovery which must, if true, be productive of such gigantic results not only to the inhabitants of these districts but to the whole colony, affects the mind with astonishment, and wonder in such a manner as almost to unfit it for the deductions of plain truth, sober reason, and common sense ... [Hargreaves] started yesterday for Coombing, to join Mr. Stutchbury, the Government geologist, who, we are informed, will accompany him to the diggins. The matter will therefore be quickly placed beyond the reach of suspicion or incredulity.5
On 15 May the Sydney Morning Herald quoted the Bathurst Free Press of five days previous and added its own commentary:
The existence of gold in the Wellington district has for a long time been an ascertained fact, but public attention has never until now been seriously drawn to the circumstance ... The arrival of Mr. Hargraves in Bathurst on Tuesday evening last, who, it was generally known had been in communication with government respecting discoveries made by him of extensive gold deposits in our cismontane region, has now brought the subject more prominently before our Bathurst public ... Mr. Hargraves states as the result of his observations, that from the foot of the Big Hill to a considerable distance below Wellington, on the Macquarie, is one vast gold field, that he has actually discovered the precious metal in numberless places, and that indications of its existence are to be seen in every direction.6
Payable gold was confirmed within easy distance of Sydney on the 15th. On the 16th Angas sketched Fig Tree and Mount Keira7 and on the 17th he was cleared to depart on the schooner William and James for Tahiti.4 But returning from his week in the Illawarra he found the world had changed. Angas never exited Sydney Heads. Economic disruption turned him back. The latest news presented a temptation more adventurous and potentially more financially rewarding. Angas abandoned his Polynesian plan and headed for the diggings. He would be the first to picture the Australian gold rush. A Herald correspondent, undertaking a reconnoitering tour from Sydney to the diggings, recognised Angas on the road and expected the scenery would compel him to "put his pencil into motion".8
Sydney's news rapidly spread to the other colonies. At first the South Australian newspapers unexcitedly relayed the early gold news, but in early June the mood changed and the headline now read "The Gold Fever in New South Wales". Economic disruption began there too.
Sam Gill's landlord called in debt. Abraham Fordham advertised on 21 June in The Mercury & South Australian Sporting Chronicle for Gill to pay him £48 8s for board and lodging. (Appleyard, 28) Badly needing funds, Gill began work on a new series of city views.
The gold news became incessant and ships at Port Adelaide advertised "for the diggings" that month.
Sam Gill returned to the familiar streets of Adelaide. He'd covered the streets in watercolour for James Allen in 1845. He would now lithograph a series for Penman and Galbraith.
He began with the view west of Adelaide's main intersection, reprising the subject of Allen's 
Hindley Street, Adelaide, looking west from King William Street | AGSA 0.642. Angas also had reproduced this picture (with attribution) as Plate 41 in South Australia Illustrated.
The fresh view is across King William Street and west along Hindley Street. The streets are busy; the dogs can't help but make them so. In the foreground a pipe vendor sells serves a customer from his portable stand. At centre front an aboriginal man sits half draped in a blanket. (He is painted the same as in Allen's version six years earlier.) Near him is the ubiquitous woman in Norwich shawl.
Buildings are signed: Auction Mart, Coppin, Auction Mart Tavern, and Marks. (M. & S. Marks' store would soon migrate to the diggings.) The Auction Mart Tavern – by this time called the Royal Exchange Hotel – sports its 1847 extension9 known as "Coppin's Front."10
All styles of vehicle navigate the streets. The four-horse omnibus Comet is pulled up outside Coppin's Hotel. Running twice daily between the Port and the city it held twelve passengers inside and five outside as well as the driver. A gentleman's enclosed carriage is outside the Auction Mart, perhaps dealing mining shares at the corner Exchange Colonnade. A dray of hay, two carts, a solitary horseman and numerous pedestrians make up the rest.
VIEW OF HINDLEY-STREET.–We have received a lithograph view of the eastern end of Hindley-street, from the pencil of Mr S. T. Gill. The point of view is from Waterhouse's corner, looking east. The picture is a very meritorious one, and the busy corner of our chief streets is graphically pourtrayed. There appears, however, to be some trifling fault in the arrangement of the perspective. The view has been well lithographed by Penman and Galbraith.11
The newspaper got the direction wrong – it's looking west, not east. Technically Gill was the lithographer – according to the captions he drew on the stone – and Penman and Galbraith the printers. Anyway it was a somewhat stinging review, especially coming as it did from the newspaper of James Allen. Gill's perspective is sound in those 1845 watercolours of Adelaide's streets and buildings for Allen. Had something gone wrong?
For some viewers of this picture there's an unexpected street line, but in fact Gill has indeed truly captured a slight rise in street level from King William Street before a further drop off. The Auction Mart line appears a little awkward and the adjacent colonnade too far forward. Lithography presented the challenge of reversing the image – directly drawn with the aid of a mirror – or indirectly transferred using tracing paper. (The process is betrayed by the reversing of the "N" in "Coppin" on the Royal Exchange Hotel. Instead of a mistake this may be an intentional device and was frequently used by Gill over many years.)
A second review was kinder.
VIEWS IN ADELAIDE.–We have been favored with No. 1 of a series of views in Adelaide, drawn by Mr S. T. Gill, and lithographed by Penman and Galbraith. No. 1 is a view of Hindley-street from King William-street, and gives a true and vivid idea of that bustling locality. If the series bears out the promise of the first, it will form a most agreeable present for friends at home.12
Meanwhile, over east in Sydney, George French Angas was preparing his own lithograph series – Six Views of the Gold Field – of scenes from the Ophir diggings in New South Wales. They were published in August 1851 by Woolcott and Clarke, 555 George Street, Sydney.
VIEWS OF THE DIGGINGS.–The first of a series of six sketches of the Summerhill Diggings, from the graphic pencil of Mr G. F. Angas, has been forwarded to us. Having been taken on the spot by the artist, their fidelity cannot be questioned, and in respect of execution they are immeasurably superior to any colonial lithographs we have ever seen. The complete series, we understand, will be published in the course of a few days, when those interested may gratify their curiosity as to the general features and scenery of this treasure-yielding locality.13
But attention soon shifted from Ophir.
On 20 August 1851, the Adelaide papers reported on gold fields in Victoria. These were of greater interest being closer to Adelaide than the New South Wales diggings. The gap between discovery and reports of takings in volume was just a few weeks. The gold news from Victoria rapidly accelerated. On 2 September, the South Australian Register thought Victoria's goldfields would rival those of New South Wales' "Ophir". Two days later Register reported from Sydney papers:
We observe that Mr. George French Angas, the artist, had prepared a beautiful set of views of the Ophir Diggings; which he intends to publish forthwith.14
Did Sam Gill then contemplate his own similar opportunity in Victoria?
Gill's Hindley Street lithograph must not have paid sufficiently for him to clear his debts and he declared insolvency before he could complete his series of Adelaide streets.
In the Supreme Court, Insolvency.
I, Samuel Thomas Gill, of Pirie-street, Adelaide, in the Province of South Australia, artist, do hereby declare that I am insolvent and unable to meet my engagements.
Dated this tenth day of September, 1851.
Saml. Thos. Gill (signed)15
Insolvency gave Gill some protection from his creditors; he could keep his tools of trade and sketch on. And so he did. A week later was Adelaide's annual grand steeple-chase and he would find subjects to tap into moneyed horse owners or punters. It would be an occasion to mix business and pleasure and take some sketches. The horse portraits would take time to finish in watercolour and in the mean time he had a lithograph series to resume.
To July's first view, Hindley Street to the west, Gill added two more – Hindley Street and Rundle Street – both to the east – to complete the series by October.
SKETCHES OF ADELAIDE.–We have just seen three views in Adelaide, drawn on stone by Mr. S. T. Gill, in a superior style, and lithographed by Messrs. Penman and Galbraith with their usual ability. The views are calculated to afford to persons out of the colony a correct and very favourable impression of our growing metropolis. The first in order was taken from the upper part of Hindley-street (west), looking eastward; the second, from the corner of King William-street, looking west; and the third, from a position in front of the office of this paper, looking up Rundle-street. The three views comprise, therefore, the chief business sites in Adelaide. Among the animated objects depicted in the city streets is "Merry Monarch," being a striking likeness of a valuable racehorse, the property of W. Vansittart, Esq., and drawn expressly for that gentleman, who intends to transmit some copies to England, and to distribute many amongst his numerous friends in the colony.16
View 2 is looking east along Hindley Street with the Mount Lofty Ranges in the background. William Vansittart astride "Merry Monarch" is centre of picture. At right is Robert Hall's Phoenix Hotel on the eastern corner of Clarendon Street – the one-legged "professor" standing on the balcony. At left with its distinctive house sign is the Royal Oak Inn and Cornish Miners Home. Past it, the double storey white building has someone on its rooftop platform – an artist? Also with its mandatory light at front, it is the Clarendon Hotel. The Clarendon was originally the home of Robert Thomas, publisher of the Register newspaper, later the home of artist John Michael Skipper and later still a hotel of Robert Hall. On the roof platform is the flagstaff once used by the Register to signal the arrival of ships, news and mail.
In the foreground (left) stands a distinctive character, in a similar attitude to rooftop man, swag rolled under his right arm. His gaze is to the east.
Sam Gill then took the viewer further east – by ten city acres – to just before the intersection with King William Street, for the third of the series.
Views in Adelaide, no. 3: Rundle Street looking east | Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales SSV*/Sp Coll/Gill/7
The view is looking east from the eastern end of Hindley Street, across King William Street and along Rundle Street on the other side of the intersection, the Lofties again in the background.
At left is James Schmidt's Exchange Tavern (formerly Coppin's Auction Mart Hotel) with a prestige four-wheeled carriage at front. Next is the Auction Mart and Exchange Colonnade, then across and on King William Street is Hall and Linton's (formerly Waite's) Royal Exchange Coffee and Chop House. Next door, on the corner, is the landmark Bee Hive of draper J.V.B. Ryley and adjacent on Rundle Street is the tailor William Pearce.
At right is (misspellt) Flett & Linklater, drapers. Beyond one can see the partly vacant corner where Sam Gill sat to sketch the first in this series of views. Outside the drapers, a bullock driver turns his team around. A top-hatted man carries his saddle down the street.
In foreground (centre) a man holds a long stock whip and gesticulates, in conversation with a policeman, looking to the east.
Angas had been organising his diggings lithographs in Sydney. He would have known of the Victorian diggings before he sailed north to Moreton Bay in October – to paint and collect natural history specimens.17 Having sketched the New South Wales diggings he may have though one goldfield was enough for his pencil and it was time to return to his main interests. This side trip came just as Victoria's rush was headlong.
From late October the Adelaide papers were reporting with accelerating frequency on the diggings at Mount Alexander in Victoria. Ships began advertising sailings from Adelaide "for Mount Alexander diggings" via Geelong.18 One of Gill's lithographers, William Galbraith, was an early sailing for the diggings via Melbourne on 27 October.23
Angas' six lithographs of the New South Wales diggings became available in Adelaide on 13 November.19 In his financial situation, Gill may not have parted with his guinea for a set, but one can imagine he at least viewed the prints at C.S. Platts's.
After Angas's Moreton Bay visit he immediately returned to Adelaide, arriving on 6 December.20
This event was noted by W.A. Cawthorne whose interest in Angas however had waned. He also reported the impact of the gold rush.
Dec. 12 [1851] – Adelaide is in an awful state. Everybody leaving it for the gold diggings at Mt. Alexander–Ballarat. Men there are getting fortunes–in a few weeks men are [?] going away–leaving their wives & children behind–& no cash–work of all kind is stopped–people are becoming insolvent right & left–altogether dreadful ...
The leaving was by both land and sea.
Emigration to the Diggings.–The Government have published a return of the number of emigrants who left the colony by sea during the week ending December 13, the gross number being 377, consisting of 249 male, and 69 female adults, and 39 children. We have ascertained from good authority that the number of individuals who passed Crafer's during the four first days of the present week, en route for the diggings, was 227.21
By then some men too were returning from their first stint at the diggings, avoiding summer's lack of water for drinking and washing of gold, clothes and selves.
Gill was still gathering funds for an eastward venture. Presumably he hadn't found buyers for his four steeple chasers and put them on show at Schmidt's (formerly Coppin's) Exchange Tavern.
The South Australian Turf.–Mr S. T. Gill has produced four paintings in water colour, of the crack steeple chase[r]s of the colony. The execution of the pictures reflects the highest credit upon the artist, the portraits of the nags and their jocks being admirable, while the details are highly finished. Mr Gill intends, we believe, to raffle them, and they can now be seen at Schmidt's hotel. The portraits of Abd-el-Kader, with Malcolm mounted, straining for the start is admirably depicted, the fidgetty position of this horse is to the life. Fidget, with his owner and rider Mr W. Filgate, is a triumph of portraiture, and would do credit to Herring himself. Nearly all the shares in the raffle are, we believe, taken up.21
[Did the raffle proceed as planned? Two of the pictures were among nine watercolors and a crayon drawing by Gill for sale by commission agent William Easey in 1861, the year after Gill's 1860 insolvency in New South Wales.22]
There would be Christmas, New Year, then the rush would begin in earnest.
Included here are:
To see these works, with accompanying notes, just scroll down or jump to the List of Works.
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 hunting, Eyre Peninsula | Art Gallery of South Australia 20114P26
Artist: Gill, S.T. (attr.) | Date: 1845-05~/1846~ | 23.4(H) x 32.4(W) cm
Catalogue: S.T. Gill and George French Angas, 1844-1845
This work corresponds with Angas' London exhibition no. 202 "Kangaroo Hunting, country westward of Port Lincoln, with Albert's Peak in distance". This is also the watercolour for plate 19 in Angas's "South Australia Illustrated".
It appears based on a Port Lincoln landscape sketch NLA R6411 dated 7 May 1845.
This unsigned watercolour incorporates action in Gill's wash drawings such as NLA NK7063/15 or NLA R117 (for James Allen). The kangaroos here look just as unrealistic as those in the wash drawings and the number and positiion of riders, dogs and kangaroos are almost identical.
This would suggest one of three possibilities - that this watercolour may have been painted:
1. by Angas in London after Angas borrowed Gill's "Hunting the Kangaroo" (NLA R117) from Allen or the SA Company – around mid-1846;
2. by Angas in South Australia (using Gill's action figures); or
3. by Gill for Angas before he left South Australia in July 1845.
If painted in South Australia it was likely painted around May-June 1845 after Angas returned from Port Lincoln.
This may be one of the pictures Angas was selling in Melbourne in April 1851. [Provenance: Douglas and Barbara Mullins 2011.]
I think it is more likely by Gill than Angas.
546
Blue Lake, Mount Gambier | Art Gallery of South Australia 20114P25
Artist: Gill, S.T. (attr.) | Date: 1844-06~/1845-06~ | 24.7(H) x 34(W) cm
Catalogue: S.T. Gill and George French Angas, 1844-1845
The scene is Mount Gambier and one of its volcanic lakes. The lake walls seem more steeply sloped than in the wash drawing. Birds fly across the lake and sit in a (sheoak?) tree. Rising smoke to the left of Mount Gambier likely suggests the presence of Aboriginal people.
George French Angas accompanied Governor Grey's expedition to S.E. South Australia in April-May 1844 and the party explored this place on 6 May 1844 noting the "numerous ducks" on the lake.
This watercolour was the basis for plate 17 of Angas' "South Australia Illustrated": "Mount Gambier, with one of its volcanic lakes (after sunset)". This work may be that in Angas' London exhibition no. 181 "Mount Gambier and one of its volcanic lakes".
This work is very similar to Gill's 1844/1845 wash drawing (NLA NK7073/6) but differs in a grander scale for the lake and larger and more numerous waterbirds. Note the similar three trees on the lake wall (left middle). The most straightforward explanation would be that this grander watercolour was developed from Gill's humbler picture (and not the other way round).
This watercolour is likely by Gill. The foreground vegetation detail is consistent with Gill's style. The sunset sky is also similar to Gill's Horrocks picture, AGSA 0.1253. It was most likely painted around May-June 1845 when Angas was in Adelaide finalising material for "South Australia Illustrated".
Just like NLA NK7073/6 this picture is probably intended to represent Blue Lake with its steep walls, but it is not topographically correct, and the view seems foreshortened (eliminating Valley Lake) for effect.
For more detail see the catalogue / main entry.
Map | S. T. Gill - South Australia
487
Aborigines and white men hunting kangaroos | National Library of Australia NK1196
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1844-06~/1845-06~ | Appleyard cat. n/a | 24(H) x 37.1(W) cm
Catalogue: S.T. Gill and George French Angas, 1844-1845
Aboriginal men and two colonists hunt kangaroos from scrub at the bottom of a hill running onto a broad grassy flat. One of the white men has a kangaroo dog; the other fires a gun.
This work may correspond to Angas' London exhibition no. 207 "Kangaroo hunting in the scrub, near Moorundi".
In April 1851 Angas had for sale in Melbourne a work titled "Kangaroo Shooting, South Australia" (Empire, 18 April 1851: 3 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60034199>).
These references, combined with the absence of a known Angas equivalent, suggest the London and Melbourne pictures were this unsigned work by Gill.
122
Views in Adelaide, no. 1: Hindley Street from King William Street | Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales DL Pd 261
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1851-07 | Appleyard cat. 48
Catalogue: S.T. Gill, May to December 1851
One of three Adelaide street view lithographs printed by Penman and Galbraith.
View 1: This is a view to the west along Hindley Street across the intersection with King William Street . The view is from the broad footpath outside the Waterhouse building (acre 79). "Views in Adelaide" 1 and 3 picture each other's viewpoints.
Signs on the right (north) side leading away from the viewer are: Auction Mart, Coppin (with N reversed), Auction Mart Tavern (obscure), Comet (omnibus), Marks. There are no building signs visible on the left (south) side. The Royal Exchange Hotel (formerly Auction Mart Tavern) sports the 1847 extension known as "Coppin's front".
Inscribed "On stone by S.T. Gill", "Printed by Penman & Galbraith" and "Published by Penman & Galbraith, Adelaide."
Map | S. T. Gill - Adelaide
208
![Thumbnail image for Hindley Street, Adelaide [photograph] | SLSA B 1892/1](https://slsa-collections.s3.amazonaws.com/ed/0d/9781-e51f-5208-beda-9072db8ea068.jpg)
Hindley Street, Adelaide [photograph] | State Library of South Australia B 1892/1
Artist: Unknown | Date: 1865~
This is a view to the west along Hindley Street from its intersection with King William Street. The c.1865 streetscape is similar to Gill's 1851 lithograph. Note "Coppin's front" on the (Royal) Exchange Hotel (formerly Auction Mart Tavern).
Map | S. T. Gill - Adelaide
598
Views in Adelaide, no. 2: Hindley Street looking east | Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales DL Pd 260
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1851-07/1851-09 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill, May to December 1851
One of three Adelaide street view lithographs printed by Penman and Galbraith.
View 2: Looking east along Hindley Street with the Mount Lofty Ranges in the background.
Prominent at right is Robert Hall's "Phoenix Hotel" (acre 68) on the eastern corner of Elizabeth Street (now Clarendon Street). Closer to the viewer is an indistinct sign - probably Marcus Collison, Australian Witness Office. At left with its lights and its pictorial house sign is the "Royal Oak Inn" and "Cornish Miners Home" (acre 57). Past the inn, the double storey white building with two chimneys and front light is Clarendon House (acre 56) with its roof platform and flagstaff. In the distance is the King William Street intersection with the Beehive (left) and Waterhouse (right) buildings.
Inscribed "On stone by S.T. Gill", "Printed by Penman & Galbraith" and "Published by Penman & Galbraith, Pirie St, Adelaide."
Map | S. T. Gill - Adelaide
209
Views in Adelaide, no. 3: Rundle Street looking east | Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales SSV*/Sp Coll/Gill/7
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1851-07/1851-09 | Appleyard cat. 49
Catalogue: S.T. Gill, May to December 1851
One of three Adelaide street view lithographs printed by Penman and Galbraith.
View 3: View from Hindley Street, across King William Street and along Rundle Street in the distance. "Views in Adelaide" 1 and 3 picture each other's viewpoints.
At left is Schmidt's Exchange Tavern (formerly Coppin's Auction Mart Hotel) with a prestige four-wheeled carriage at front - possibly the Governor. Next is the Auction Mart and Exchange Colonnade, then across on King William Street is Hall and Linton's (formerly Waite's) new coffee house (2 May 1851) - likely the same as the Royal Exchange Coffee and Chop House (3 June 1851) - Royal Exchange Coffee and Dining-Rooms (2 May 1851).
Next door, on the corner, is the landmark Bee Hive (acre 46) occupied by draper J.V.B. Ryley since July 1850 and adjacent on Rundle Street is the tailor William Pearce.
The identity of business name "Fleet ..." at right is Flett (sometimes Fleet) & Linklater, drapers, etc. Past that on the right is King William Street after which is the three-storey Waterhouse building.
The Auction Mart Tavern sports the 1847 extension known as "Coppin's front".
Inscribed "On stone by S.T. Gill", "Printed by Penman & Galbraith" and "Published by Penman & Galbraith, Pirie St, Adelaide."
Map | S. T. Gill - Adelaide
210
Abd-el-Kader, the property of Mr. J. Baker, ridden by W. Malcolm at the Adelaide Grand Steeple Chase of 1851 | Work untraced
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1851-09/1851-12 | Appleyard cat. n/a
Catalogue: S.T. Gill, May to December 1851
"Abd-el-Kader", chestnut colt, owned by J. Baker and ridden by W. Malcolm (black & white jacket, black cap), came second in the Adelaide Grand Steeple Chase on 3 September 1851.
This is one of four steeplechaser watercolours raffled by Gill in December 1851. "Abd-el-Kader, with Malcolm mounted, straining for the start".
A gill watercolour was advertised for sale in 1861 as "Abd-el-Kader, the favourite cross-country horse of N.S.W." (The Herald, 22 November 1861: 2. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244182628>) It was advertised with aother portrait of horse "Cydnus". This would suggest Gill's 1851 raffle was unsuccessful and that he retained these pictures.
175
Fidget ridden by W. Filgate esqr. at the Adelaide Grand Steeple Chase of 1851 | National Library of Australia R6372
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1851-09/1851-12 | Appleyard cat. 77
Catalogue: S.T. Gill, May to December 1851
"Fidget", grey gelding, owned and ridden by W. Filgate (white jacket, black cap), was unplaced in the 1851 Adelaide Grand Steeple Chase; however it did win the previous year.
"... at the last fence Fidget had crept ahead a length or so, but fell at the fence, throwing his jock heavily... We are sorry to say that Mr Filgate in his fall broke his collar bone." (Adelaide Times, 20 September 1851: 6. <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207069390>)
This is one of four steeplechaser watercolours raffled by Gill in December 1851. "Fidget, with his owner and rider Mr W. Filgate, is a triumph of portriature, and would do credit to Herring himself. "
246
Cydnus, the property of Mr. A. Malcom, winner of Adelaide Grand Steeple Ch. [i.e. Chase] '51, ridden & trained by Mr. J. Prest | National Library of Australia R4757
Artist: Gill, S.T. | Date: 1851-09/1851-12 | Appleyard cat. 76
Catalogue: S.T. Gill, May to December 1851
"Mr. A. Malcolm's [chestnut gelding' Cydnus, blue body, black sleeves, black cap [ridden by] Mr. Prest" won the Adelaide Grand Steeple Chase on 18 September 1851. (South Australian Register, 19 September 1851: 3.)
Gill's humour shows in his representation of the spectators on the course!
This is presumed to be one of four steeplechaser watercolours raffled by Gill in December 1851.
245
Narrative →
David Coombe, original June 2022, updated 30 June 2024. Formatted 12 July 2024. | text copyright (except where indicated)
CITE THIS: David Coombe, 2022-2023, S.T. Gill, looking east | May to December 1851, accessed dd mmm yyyy, <https://coombe.id.au/S_T_Gill/S_T_Gill_May_to_December_1851.htm>