sketcher and military officer, was born in Lostwithiel, Cornwall on 5 February 1815, ninth of the ten children of Captain John Hext and Elizabeth, née Staniforth. He joined the 4th King’s Own Regiment in 1835 and, after training, sailed to NSW where the regiment was stationed. He arrived at Hobart on 12 November 1836, went on to Sydney then left for India with his regiment in August 1837.
Captain Hext returned to Hobart Town on 24 November 1842, having fortuitously escaped the infamous wreck of the convict transport Waterloo in Table Bay, Cape Town on 28 August (he was on shore at the time). In December he visited Port Arthur and sketched the penal settlement and two views of Eaglehawk Neck. One showed the ferocious guard dogs stationed at precise intervals across this narrow neck of land (to prevent convicts escaping) as harmless, chubby pups. Early in 1843 Hext rejoined his regiment in India. He served there intermittently until his death from 'apoplexy’ at Attock in the Punjab on 26 January 1855.
At Liverpool, England in about 1845 Charles Hutchins published lithographs from seven of Hext’s sketches as Views in Australia and Tasmania . Along with the four Tasmanian views were two Aboriginal subjects and a scene of a cricket match in progress in the military barracks’ square, Sydney. One English and two South African scenes and a view of the wreck of the Waterloo make up Hext’s eleven known prints. The original of the last survives (private collection).
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
