BACKGROUND
The La Trobe Journal
Article: No 86 December 2010
The Pacificator: discovering the lost bust of George Augustus Robinson
The Pacificator: discovering the lost bust of George Augustus Robinson
Author: Gareth Knapman
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George Augustus Robinson [The Pacificator]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .... Click here to go to source and the entry
"George Augustus Robinson (22 March 1791 – 18 October 1866) was a builder and untrained preacher. He was the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Port Phillip District from 1839 to 1849. Prior to his appointment as the Chief Protector of Aborigines by the Colonial Office in Great Britain, he had been called upon to mount a "friendly mission" to find the 300 remaining [A]boriginals in Tasmania."
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"The / Aborigines / of / Tasmania / A Series of Original Etchings and Sketches / of the Natives brought in by the Conciliatory / Mission under G. A. Robinson. / Hobart Town / 1834-35 [Duterrau]" ... Click here to access the album
Notes on Duterrau, Benjamin (1767–1851) by A. Rand
"Benjamin Duterrau (1767-1851), artist, was born in London to parents of French descent and was apprenticed in his youth to an engraver. Between 1817 and 1823 he exhibited six portraits at the Royal Academy and three genre pieces at the British Institution. Duterrau married a Miss Perigal whose family was in partnership with Duterrau's as makers of watches and clocks, New Bond Street, London. In the early 1830s Duterrau and his only daughter, Sarah Jane, arranged to emigrate to Van Diemen's Land as drawing master and as music teacher at Ellinthorp Hall, a school at Ross, conducted by Mrs George Clark. Before their departure, however, Henry Mundy, a teacher of both subjects, was engaged. Nevertheless the Duterraus embarked in the Laing, and arrived in August 1832. Sarah Duterrau became governess to the children of Lieutenant-Governor (Sir) George Arthur and, after marrying John Bogle of the firm of Kerr & Bogle, merchants, in February 1838 went with him to Scotland in 1839; she died at Torquay in 1885." ... Click here to access Rand's notes
"This 1840 painting idealised the work of George Augustus Robinson, who took up the post of 'Protector of Aborigines' in Van Diemen's Land on 27 January 1830. Benjamin Duterrau's The Conciliation was considered the first historical epic painting in the Australian colonies; it now marks the long path towards legal acknowledgment of Tasmanians of Indigenous descent."
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Child of the metropolis: George Augustus Robinson in London
Jacqueline D'Arcy
Jacqueline D'Arcy
Abstract
This paper argues that historians have too readily accepted Vivienne Rae-Ellis’s account of the reasons behind George Robinson’s emigration to Hobart. It debunks the idea that Robinson fled England in disgrace and reveals that Robinson had been considering immigration for a number of years prior to his departure. This paper also establishes that it was Robinson’s links to various social networks in England, especially humanitarian and military networks, that laid the foundations for his easy integration into and success in colonial society. Its detailed picture of Robinson’s early life challenges the current historiography, which in the main has used Rae-Ellis’s inaccurate account as a platform to attack his character and to misconstrue his later career with the Aborigines in both Van Diemen’s Land and Port Phillip.
This paper argues that historians have too readily accepted Vivienne Rae-Ellis’s account of the reasons behind George Robinson’s emigration to Hobart. It debunks the idea that Robinson fled England in disgrace and reveals that Robinson had been considering immigration for a number of years prior to his departure. This paper also establishes that it was Robinson’s links to various social networks in England, especially humanitarian and military networks, that laid the foundations for his easy integration into and success in colonial society. Its detailed picture of Robinson’s early life challenges the current historiography, which in the main has used Rae-Ellis’s inaccurate account as a platform to attack his character and to misconstrue his later career with the Aborigines in both Van Diemen’s Land and Port Phillip.
This article was supported by a 2009 CAL/AHA bursary and has been peer-reviewed.
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The Woureddy and Trucaninny busts by Benjamin Law (1835 & 1836 )are held at:
- A Private Collection – New South Wales;
- The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery;
- The National Gallery of Australia;
- The Art Gallery of Western Australia;
- The South Australian Museum – on loan to Art Gallery of South Australia;
- The Australian Museum – on loan to Art Gallery of New South Wales;
- The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery;
- The British Museum;
- The Musée de lHomme; and
- Individual busts are held in numerous other institutions
Click here to see the National Gallery of Australia Woureddy
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RELATED STORY
TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2009
Yet another Tasmaniana story was unfolding as the auction date loomed for the sale of the two Benjamin Law Woureddy and Truganini busts in Melbourne August 25 2009. Backstage at Sothebys the temperature rose appreciably during the course of events. Tasmania’s Aboriginal community was applying the blowtorch to the auctioneers, ‘government’ and whoever else might have had a finger in the cultural pie.
In the end the whole affair looked more like a spin doctors' picnic than the art sale it purported to be – albeit one where the stakes were very high. Spin is an inexact science and when it gets out of kilter, and in unanticipated ways, always expect the unexpected. And, when the spin and rhetoric comes from all perspectives things are likely to get very tetchy.
On the face of it the vendor’s decision to sell the busts was a pretty innocuous one – well this pair of busts are but one of many. Likewise, as art dealers, Sotheby’s represented their client well – and they seemed to be advising them appropriately too. The research backing the sale was exhaustive, exemplary and laid out in context – albeit that this turns out to be the issue at the root of things.
Enter stage left the activists with a task in mind and you have a paradigm shift. Without doubt there are plenty of unfulfilled missions in Tasmania on so many fronts. Almost without wonder at the eleventh hour the vendors ‘pulled the plug’ as they say and the busts were withdrawn from sale.
For certain, cultural theorists, historians of every category, social activists and journalists searching for something to expose will feed on this affair for some time to come. Why? Simply because there is something in this story for them all – and not much of it is to do with reconciliation. What might pass as ‘truth’ in this saga is but putty in the hands of the various bit players – there is possibly a Hollywood style movie in this story somewhere.
At times like this almost anyone might be forgiven for thinking that Tasmania is that part of Australia where the 'colonial nerve' is most sensitive and most exposed. They are also the moments when the ‘Australiana idea’ looks relatively benign in comparison to the 'Tasmaniana idea'. In terms of cultural production the concept of Tasmaniana has a special currency – and the 'Truganini myth' is deeply embedded in it.
Whatever else we might expect we can assume that the contested ‘ownerships’ of these two Benjamin Law sculptures – TRUCANINNY1836 & WOURADDY 1835 – is now ineradicably ensconced in the cultural discourse to do with Tasmania and Tasmaniana. Not that there was ever much doubt about it, their ‘Tasmaniana status’ has been elevated to CLASS A – with five star angst. Somehow it no longer really matters if the objects themselves continue to exist or not as is it their image that is so poignant both in and out of context – rubbing that out of the cultural consciousness is hardly a possibility.
This story is a symbolic carcass that holds all the promise of feeding the vultures indefinitely.
CONTEXT INFORMATION
TRUCANINNY & WOURADDY, BENJAMIN. LAW. HOBART TOWN, 1836
PROVENANCE: Judah Solomon, Hobart Town; thence by descent through the Solomon and Benjamin families – Private collection, New South Wales
EXHIBITION HISTORY
In the end the whole affair looked more like a spin doctors' picnic than the art sale it purported to be – albeit one where the stakes were very high. Spin is an inexact science and when it gets out of kilter, and in unanticipated ways, always expect the unexpected. And, when the spin and rhetoric comes from all perspectives things are likely to get very tetchy.
On the face of it the vendor’s decision to sell the busts was a pretty innocuous one – well this pair of busts are but one of many. Likewise, as art dealers, Sotheby’s represented their client well – and they seemed to be advising them appropriately too. The research backing the sale was exhaustive, exemplary and laid out in context – albeit that this turns out to be the issue at the root of things.
Enter stage left the activists with a task in mind and you have a paradigm shift. Without doubt there are plenty of unfulfilled missions in Tasmania on so many fronts. Almost without wonder at the eleventh hour the vendors ‘pulled the plug’ as they say and the busts were withdrawn from sale.
For certain, cultural theorists, historians of every category, social activists and journalists searching for something to expose will feed on this affair for some time to come. Why? Simply because there is something in this story for them all – and not much of it is to do with reconciliation. What might pass as ‘truth’ in this saga is but putty in the hands of the various bit players – there is possibly a Hollywood style movie in this story somewhere.
At times like this almost anyone might be forgiven for thinking that Tasmania is that part of Australia where the 'colonial nerve' is most sensitive and most exposed. They are also the moments when the ‘Australiana idea’ looks relatively benign in comparison to the 'Tasmaniana idea'. In terms of cultural production the concept of Tasmaniana has a special currency – and the 'Truganini myth' is deeply embedded in it.
Whatever else we might expect we can assume that the contested ‘ownerships’ of these two Benjamin Law sculptures – TRUCANINNY1836 & WOURADDY 1835 – is now ineradicably ensconced in the cultural discourse to do with Tasmania and Tasmaniana. Not that there was ever much doubt about it, their ‘Tasmaniana status’ has been elevated to CLASS A – with five star angst. Somehow it no longer really matters if the objects themselves continue to exist or not as is it their image that is so poignant both in and out of context – rubbing that out of the cultural consciousness is hardly a possibility.
This story is a symbolic carcass that holds all the promise of feeding the vultures indefinitely.
CONTEXT INFORMATION
TRUCANINNY & WOURADDY, BENJAMIN. LAW. HOBART TOWN, 1836
- Australian National Gallery Cast: WOURADDY – Click Here
- Australian National Gallery Cast: TRUCANINNY– Click Here
PROVENANCE: Judah Solomon, Hobart Town; thence by descent through the Solomon and Benjamin families – Private collection, New South Wales
EXHIBITION HISTORY
- Art and natural history exhibition, Argyle Rooms, Hobart, 7 August - 18 September 1837
- Launceston Mechanics' Institute Exhibition, Mechanics' Institute, Launceston, April 1860, cat. 188 (lent by Henry Dowling) (another cast)
- The International Exhibition of 1862, South Kensington, 1 May - 1 November 1862, cats. 550 and 649 (lent by J. A. Youl) (another cast)
- Intercolonial Exhibition, Melbourne, 1866, cat. 719 (lent by Henry Dowling) (another cast)
- Tasmanian vision: the art of nineteenth century Tasmania: paintings, drawings and sculpture from European exploration and settlement to 1900, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart, 1 January - 21 February 1988; Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Launceston, 16 March - 1 May 1988, cat. 76L Woureddy & 77L Tuganini (another pair)
- Creating Australia: 200 years of art 1788-1988, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 17 May - 17 July 1988; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 12 August - 25 September 1988; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 21 October - 27 November 1988; Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart, 21 December 1988 - 5 February 1989; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1 March - 30 April 1989; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 23 May - 16 July 1989 (another pair)
- Viewing the Invisible: An installation by Fred Wilson, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, 7 October - 6 December 1998 (another pair)
- Presence and absence: portrait sculpture in Australia, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 22 August - 16 November 2003, cats. 45 and 46 (another pair)
- On loan to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (1983)
- On loan to National Portrait Gallery, Canberra (2009)
- ABORIGINAL BUSTS AUCTION CANCELLED Launceston Examiner 25.08.09
- BUSTS WITHDRAWN FROM AUCTION Mercury Tasmania 25.08.09
- 'RACIST' ART AUCTION HALTED Stuff.co.nz 25.08.09
- SOTHEBY'S HIT BY PROTESTERS OVER 'RACIST' BUSTS SMH 25.08.09
- PROTESTERS HALT SOTHEBY'S AUCTION OF 'RACIST' ART The Age 25.08.09
- SOTHEBY'S WITHDRAWS SCULPTURES IN OUTCRY Australian 25.08.09
- SOTHEBY'S CANS SALE OF ABORIGINAL BUSTS LABELLED AS RACIST ABC PM 24.08.09
- 1000 PAINTINGS SET TO TEST MARKET Australian (Business) 24.08.09
- ANGER OVER BUST AUCTION Mercury Tasmania 24.08.09
- BUST UP: ARTWORKS WITHDRAWN FROM SALE ABC 24.08.09
- 'RACISM NOT ART': ANGER AT TRUGANINI BUST AUCTION ABC 24.08.09
- ARTWORKS SET TO FETCH UP TO $9M Australian 13.08.09
- THE TASMANIAN GREENS STATEMENT
- LONELY PLANET SPARKS A ROW OVER ITS PICK FOR 2009'S 'HOTTEST' DESTINATION Telegraph UK 21.08.09
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