Bunyips And Bush Scenes
c1890s. Collection of 20 watercolours accompanied with one poem handwritten and signed in ink, and three poems published separately in letterpress, some watercolours signed or dated, some titled in image or verso, sizes range from 13.9 x 12.3cm to 28 x 39cm (images) and 17.9 x 11.2cm to 20.9 x 13.2cm (paper, poems). Most with some foxing, tears, creases, old folds or missing portions. The watercolours are mostly of Australian bush life scenes, centred around the Northern Rivers region near Lismore in NSW. Images include drovers and cattle on roads, homesteads, and portraits of horses. Also included are two rare images of the mythical bunyip in its swampland habitat. The handwritten poem “A Richmond River [NSW] Tragedy: The death of the bunyip” is accompanied with its published version. There is an additional poem about the life of a bunyip, and another on a different subject, titled “The Lily of the Valley.” The collection is accompanied by the original album, which also contains other loose items such as printed images of European landscapes and a copy of one of the floral watercolours. Known as a watercolourist who painted scenes around the Port Macquarie area, Anna Sarah Rachel Collard (nee Wauch) also had a “flair for verse and story writing” some of which appeared in local newspapers. One of her poems, which is included in this collection, “The ‘Bunyip’ of Tuckyann Swamp” was first published in The Richmond River Herald, on 1 November 1889, under “A.S.R. Collard, Dungarubba [NSW], October 30.” Collard’s “gifts” and “unorthodox ways”, according to locals, “eventually created so much popular interest that her name became almost legendary throughout the district. In spite of her advanced years Mrs. Collard was a superb equestrienne, and fearless bushwoman. She resided in a home of her own some distance from the homestead in which her bachelor son resided. For company she kept several pet snakes, which roamed the house and enjoyed regularly the menu provided for them by their hostess…The old lady was also no mean humourist, as many of her poetic efforts, telling of notable local happenings and personages, attest.” Ref: The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer, 22.6.1945; The Richmond River Herald, 1.11.1889.
Item #CL207-6
Price (AUD): $22,000.00 other currencies