Design and Art Australia Online

painter and soldier, was born in Cork, Ireland, second son of James Wallis and Lucinda, née Hewson. Wallis joined the 46th Regiment as an ensign in 1803 and was promoted lieutenant in 1804. He fought with distinction against the French in the West Indies and was promoted captain in 1811. In February 1814 he arrived at Sydney in charge of a detachment of the 46th Regiment which was to relieve the 73rd as the military presence in New South Wales. The 46th sailed to Sydney in the convict transport General Hewitt ; also on board, as a convict, was Joseph Lycett . On 1 June 1816 Wallis was appointed commandant of the penal settlement at Newcastle where, coincidentally, Lycett had been sent to serve a secondary sentence for forgery.

Wallis set about reorganising the settlement, restoring discipline and erecting a hospital, gaol, and convict barracks, enlarging the wharf and beginning a breakwater. It has been said that both Elizabeth Henrietta Macquarie and Lycett had a hand in the design of Christ Church of England (1817), but its builder J.B. Clohesy in his evidence to Commissioner Bigge said that Wallis amended the original plan and supervised the erection. Relieved of his post in January 1819, Wallis sailed for England in March. Macquarie praised his 'zeal, ability and judgement’ in the general orders of 24 December 1819 and sent a glowing testimonial to Earl Bathurst. In 1821 he was promoted major and served in India until his retirement in 1826. In December 1836 he married Mary Ann Breach at Clifton, Gloucestershire. He died at Prestbury, Gloucestershire, on 12 July 1858.

That Wallis had an interest in art and drawing is evident from his publication, An Historical Account of the Colony of New South Wales … in Illustration of Twelve Views, Engraved by W. Preston, a Convict; from Drawings Taken on the Spot . The first edition, advertised in the Sydney Gazette of 9 January 1819 and the following two issues, was described as 'A series of original views in New South Wales’. The plates were engraved by Walter Preston , who had earlier engraved some of the plates in West’s Views . Two sets of six were offered: one of full-sized plates for £3 and one of half-sized plates for 30s, or £4 if all twelve were purchased. In the introduction to the later London edition, Wallis stated that because of a shortage of materials the plates had been engraved on 'common sheet copper which is employed for coppering the bottoms of ships’, and added 'the engravings … are curious and interesting, as being the first specimen of the graphic act which this infant colony has produced’.

This was not correct. The plates for John Lewin 's Prodromus Entomology and his Birds of New Holland , as well as West’s Views , all preceded Wallis’s. The Rienits state that 'no full set is known’ of the Sydney edition, the Mitchell Library having only ten of the twelve; but the library also has a complete set with an additional thirteenth plate of Newcastle not included in the London printing. Purchased for the library at the Strathallan sale of the Macquarie Papers on 14 February 1914, this set contains proofs and duplicates of five of the plates, three inscribed in Wallis’s hand, one with a dedication to Mrs Macquarie dated 18 December 1817 and another with 'View of Newcastle from an original drawing by Jas. Wallis’.

Following his return to England, Wallis arranged with the well-known print publisher Rudolf Ackermann to issue his plates in book form. The volume appeared in 1821 with text and preliminaries as well as a separate issue in wrappers without text – the first book published in England solely devoted to views of New South Wales. An interesting corollary can be found in the painted oil panels on cedar forming part of two collector’s chests (c.1820, DG & p.c.). Two of the views in the Historical Account , the kangaroos and the black swans, are reproduced on the panels of the chest in the Dixson Library, together with eleven other views. Seven are of similar composition, with pairs of birds native to the Hunter River estuary against backgrounds of Lake Macquarie and Newcastle, although not copies from a published source. The second chest, sold from the Strathallen family in 1989, bears a comparable relationship to Wallis’s Views .

For some years discussion has occurred as to whether Wallis was an artist or simply used drawings prepared for him by Lycett, then added his own name to the imprint of the published works. In the 1970s David Thomas reattributed a large oil on wood panel to Lycett originally thought to be by Wallis, Corroboree at Newcastle c.1820s (DG, presented by Sir William Dixson, June 1936), because it relates closely to plate VII in Historical Account . If developed in England by Lycett, the painting could still have been produced after (and following) the Wallis engraving.

Signed watercolour and pencil views with direct family provenance offered at Christies on 28 May and at Sotheby’s on 4 November 1987 leave no doubt that Wallis did draw in New South Wales. All the Sotheby’s pictures except for lot 113, a watercolour view of the Bay of Bengal c.1821, were watercolour views of New South Wales. Hawkesbury River and Blue Mountains from Windsor , interestingly annotated '[done] with camera lucida’, relates to the first illustration in Wallis’s Historical Account , while a view of Reid’s Mistake, near Newcastle, is a study for plate VII. Two oil paintings of Newcastle and the Hunter River (NRAG), initially attributed to Wallis, then to Lycett, tended to revert to Wallis once his status as a painter was confirmed, particularly as they bear the inscriptions, 'At one time in the possession of the rector of Newcastle Anglican Church’ and 'left to Captain Thos. Hilton by the late Major Wallis, Prestbury, nr. Cheltenham 6th December 1859’. In October 1991 a panoramic oil on board view of Newcastle offered at Christie’s (South Kensington) was attributed to Wallis by John McPhee on evidence of style, provenance and medium. Lycett, however, continues to have his advocates – currently in the ascendancy (2001).

Writers:

Ellis, Elizabeth

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011