Eustace Families Association

Lagoon on the Murrumbidgee (1878)

Oil on Slate

Alfred William Eustace

1820-1907

Alfred William Eustace (1820-1907), Australian artist and taxidermist was born in the small village of Ashbury, Berkshire, England, the son of John Eustace head gamekeeper to the Earl of Craven, at the beautiful, but lonely Ashdown Park. In Australia, he became acquainted with Jason, Thomas and William Withers who, by 1852, were all living at the Black Dog Creek near Chiltern, Victoria.  Jason Withers arrived in Fort Phillip in 1840 and became a squatter. By May 1851, he owned the Ullina and Eldorado Runs in the Black Dog Creek in all some 55,000 acres of grazing land.

  In 1851, Alfred Eustace with his wife, Sarah Anna (nee Collins), son Sidney and daughter Kate arrived at Eldorado Run and camped near where the Beechworth Road crossed the Black Dog Creek. Alfred was employed as a shepherd but his passions were art and taxidermy. As he herded the flock, he always carried a small box of oils in his swag, so that he could experiment with colour and techniques.  Hero he taught himself to paint and here he endeavoured to capture the spirit of the bush. Canvas and board not being available, he turned to using large round gum tree leaves for his paintings.

About 1856 he painted a small picture of the famous Woolsted gold rush and during the next few years became well-known in northern Victoria. John Sadler, a police officer stationed at Beechwirth in the 1850’s, noted that Alfred Eustace painted some exquisite scenes. He was of an easy-going, dreamy temperament, a student of nature only, despising the works of men.   Unfortunately most of his drawings were on fragile gum tree leaves, the largest, and roundest he could find and not on canvas and most perished long ago. Fortunately, four of his landscapes which were painted on tin, survived and were auctioned off by Christie’s in London in 1969. Unfortunately, the auctioneers were unable to provide the names of the buyers. One painting that did survive is “Lagoon on the Murrumbidgee” now on display at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

In 1876 the Melbourne Age reported “Eustace's celebrated paintings on gum leaves are again  attracting attention. Mr. Eustace is an elegant artist--- he seems without effort to catch the colour and spirit of Australian scenery.”

In 1884, Eustace held an Art Union in Ballarat to dispose of nine paintings, something which he had done as early as 1864 in Albury. In 1893, he held an exhibition of gum leaf paintings at Stevens Gallery, Elizabeth Street, Mebourne. By 1896 he was receiving orders from nearly all the capitals of Europe. Examples of his work were acknowledged by Queen Victoria, Emperor Frederic of Germany, the Czar of Russia, and Governors of New South Wales and Victoria. He was also a skillful taxidermist, the collection of birds and animals in the Beechworth Museum having been prepared by him. He was a contributor of letters and verse to the Chiltern newspaper and in the l870’s shared in a lively debate on spiritualism.

There were six children in the family, Sidney, Kate, Elisabeth, Charles, Emily and Annie, the last four being born in Australia.

Annie who married Edward Jessup, successfully followed her father in painting gumleaf landscapes. A picture by Annie Jessup was presented to the Chiltern Art Museum by Sidney Eustace with his collection of local timbers. Sarah Ann Eustace died the 6th of February 1890.   The renowned 'Bush Artist' died on 29th May 1907. Their graves with that of their daughter Elizabeth, who lived to the age of 106 years, are in the Presbyterian section of the Chiltern New Cemetery.

References:

Newspapers -  The Age; The Argus ; Ballarat Couriers Federal Standard; Border Post.

Books -   Bailey W.A., Border City History of Albury  (1954);

            Sadler, John; Recollections of a Victoria Police Officer.

Libraries - Latrobe Library, Melbourne;

National Library of Australia;

Burke Museum, Beechworth;

Chiltern Atheneaum.

We are indebted to Dawn Walton of Castle Hill, New South Wales, for providing this article which was originally published in the Spring 1983 Eustace Families Post. She is a descendant on the female side.