Norman Taylor b. 3 October 1834

  • Artist (Draughtsman),
  • Artist (Painter)
With the death of his father acting as a catalyst, Norman Taylor (1834/1894) left England with his mother to arrive in Melbourne at the age of 21. Finding a career in geology, Taylor produced numerous landscape sketches and paintings noted for their accuracy.

sketcher and geologist, was born in Brixton, Surrey, on 3 October 1834, son of Henry William Taylor FGS, a London solicitor and noted amateur geologist, and Louisa, née Edwards. He was educated for the army at Addiscombe but owing to his father’s interests had a strong leaning to the natural sciences, particularly geology. Following his father’s death, he and his mother left England on 1 November 1855 in the Canaan to join his brother Henry who was already in Victoria. During the voyage Norman kept a diary and illustrated it with sketches of ships.

Taylor arrived at Melbourne on 12 February 1855 and obtained a position in an assay office. In April 1856 he was appointed assistant field geologist to the Geological Survey of Victoria under Alfred R.C. Selwyn. He began mapping at Broadmeadows and worked north and north-west as far as the Baringhup area. On 1 March 1864 he was sent to explore the far east of Gippsland, returning to the Baringhup district in December 1865. Three sketches survive from his time in the Redesdale area: Westblades Hotel, Mia Mia, Spring Plains, Mitchell and Depass Stations (c.1865, pencil), Camp at O’Connors, Redesdale, Bald Creek Victoria (c.1865, pen and pencil) and Camp Tent (1860s, w/c).

Taylor resigned from the survey on 8 April 1867 to work as a consultant geologist. He was re-appointed on 16 September 1867 on a temporary basis but remained with the survey until it was disbanded in December 1868. In July 1869 he became the local manager of the Australian Diamond Mines Company, working the Cudgewong River and tributaries near Mudgee, New South Wales, but resigned early in 1870. A pen and pencil view, Two Mile Flat, Cudgewong River , dates from this period. He was employed for a short time by the Queensland government to arrange the geological specimens in the Queensland Museum and he served as a geologist on the Hann exploring expedition.

On returning to Melbourne in 1871 Taylor was employed in the Lands Department as a supernumerary draughtsman, then as a field geologist with the Mines Department late in 1873, mapping the Stawell goldfield and areas to the north of Ballarat. Dismissed on 'Black Wednesday’ (8 January 1878) with the other field geologists of the Mines Department, he again worked as a consultant geologist. He was secretary to the Jury of the Mining and Geological Section of the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition. In the mid 1880s the Mines Department again retained him to map areas at Blackwood, Daylesford and Rushworth.

Taylor died of congestion of the lungs at Melbourne on 22 June 1894 and was buried in the Daylesford cemetery. On 12 March 1868, at St Mark’s Church, Fitzroy, he had married Emma Sarah, daughter of Leonard T. Woodruff of Buckinghamshire, England, who, with seven children, survived him. He was a very able field geologist and a meticulous draughtsman, and his maps are models of accuracy. His surviving sketches (La Trobe Collection) reflect the same attention to detail. Drawings in the diary of his voyage to Australia in 1854/1855 show an ability to render ships’ rigging in painstaking detail. His subsequent work has clarity and naturalism, depicting the Australian countryside with careful draughtsmanship and topographical accuracy while selecting a viewpoint which makes a pleasing picture.

Writers:
Darragh, Thomas A.
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011