miniature painter, sketcher and novelist, was born and lived in England until 1840, when she came to NSW with her husband, the Rev. Francis Vidal, and their three sons. They spent five years at Penrith before returning to England. Considered Australia’s first woman novelist, Vidal wrote Tales for the Bush (Sydney, 1845)-which, despite the title, lacks any obvious Australian content-and The Cabramatta Store , published as part of Cabramatta, and Woodleigh Farm (London, 1849), a series of vignettes about life in the Nepean district of NSW. Her third and last 'Australian’ work is the full-length novel Bengala: or, Some Time Ago (London, 1860: later reprinted), which is set in a fictitious township north of Sydney. She never mentions painting but in 1995 the National Library of Australia acquired a series of items relating to Mary Vidal notably three miniature paintings – including a self-portrait and a portrait of her husband (c.1840s. oil on wood) – and a sketchbook of flower specimens painted 1871-72.
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- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 1989
