Design and Art Australia Online

sketcher, was the only daughter of Captain Matthew Blake, who by 1830 was stationed at Cape Town, South Africa. On 19 January 1830 Maria married Lieutenant Marcus Freeman Brownrigg (1796 1882), second son of General Thomas Brownrigg and Anne, née Sherman, from County Kilkenny, who had joined the Navy in 1816 and by then was a first lieutenant aboard the Sparrowhawk . Like many wives of the well-connected, globally minded, British professional class ( see Eliza Errington ), Maria’s life is largely recorded in accounts of her husband’s career and of their children’s births and marriages in far-flung places. They remained at the Cape until December 1832 when Marcus was posted to the North Sea. In 1834, having spent half his serving life as a first lieutenant and being convinced that there were obstacles in the way of his preferment, Marcus resigned to become a confidential agent in Mauritius for the London-based Cockerell & Co trading company. The Brownrigg’s first child, Marcus Blake Brownrigg , was born in London in July 1835. In 1836 Marcus Brownrigg established a new 'house of agency’ for the firm in Bombay, where he became Chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce and a Director of the Government Bank. In 1839 their fifth child and second son, Crosbie, was born, and in 1843 Brownrigg left Bombay to establish a branch of Cockerell & Co. in Liverpool. This was wound up in 1847, paying 7s 6d to 10s 6d in the pound. Brownrigg fiercely defended himself, but withdrew from business. He then accepted an offer to re-enter the Navy as Flag Lieutenant. He was stationed at Plymouth until 1851 and promoted Commander. He accepted a small commission with the Colonial Land and Immigration Commissioners in Glasgow where, in May 1852, he applied to become General Superintendent of the Australian Agricultural Company’s million-acre pastoral and coal operations at Port Stephens and Newcastle (NSW). He gave his age as fifty, said he felt much younger, and received the post over numerous applicants. His cousin was Chairman of Governors of the Company.

Arriving at Sydney in November 1852, the family stayed briefly with Governor Fitzroy, another old 'Cape’ hand. Brownrigg took over a business suffering from years of neglect. Although he zealously pursued the firm’s interests, he was hampered by having no practical knowledge of mining or the management of stock and ensured his own downfall by failing to send the Company adequate, regular and legible reports. Dismissed, and then defamed by his successor, he moved to the north shore of Port Stephens while clearing his reputation. While waiting for his name to be cleared the family lived at Yarra Cottage, Carrington, on the north shore of Port Stephens. There Maria Brownrigg painted a watercolour of her family (minus her husband who was presumably in Sydney) gathered in the drawing-room enjoying their evening pastimes (p.c., Sydney). Marcus junior is seated at the piano while Crosbie stands watching his sisters Emma Blake, Annie Henrietta, Katie and Carrie who are seated around the table sewing and writing. Four landscape paintings and a portrait can be seen on the walls and there is a portrait bust above the door. All are meticulously depicted, along with the rest of the furnishings, the family’s pet dog and caged bird. This is a rare surviving interior view of a modest but respectable mid-Victorian colonial home, painted with some competence. No other works by Mrs Brownrigg are known, and this one appeared at auction only in July 1988. It was inscribed by Crosbie as having been painted 'by my dear mother in 1857’

The Brownriggs are subsequently recorded in 1859 at Glencoe, Rollands Plains, near Port Macquarie, where Marcus was police magistrate and where their second daughter, Annie, married William Cowper, son of the Australian Agricultural Company’s former chaplain at Port Stephens. The Brownriggs were at Albury (NSW) in 1860, where Marcus senior was again police magistrate and where Marcus junior, an Anglican clergyman, was married. Maria Brownrigg died in Sydney on 6 May 1880; her husband died at their son’s home in Launceston on 1 December 1884.

Writers:

Serle, Jessie

Date written:

1995

Last updated:

1992