sketcher, etcher and merchant, is known in architectural history circles for his eccentric collection of Mediterranean and Ruskin-inspired structures at Knutsford, Cheshire, erected late in life. As a young man he sailed to Moreton Bay in the Young Australia in 1864, sketching and etching whatever caught his eye. He not only kept a shipboard diary but was jointly responsible for printing the middle cabin journal, which appears to have been published as Etches and Sketches (1864) when he reached Brisbane. At Brisbane in 1864 66 and at Ipswich on at least one occasion, Watt sketched scenes around town as well as many river views. In particular, he recorded such landmarks as the first Brisbane Town Hall, the Ipswich Grammar School, the foundation stone ceremony for the bridge to connect North and South Brisbane, and the great Queen Street fire. Many of his sketches were hurriedly scribbled in pencil, then reworked in black ink with a little white paint.
Watt’s 'Sketches, vol. 1: Australia, Grecian Archipelago & Balkan Peninsula’ (Mitchell library [ML]) contains a couple of comic self-portraits: Dolce Far Niente (lying uncomfortably on a narrow bench) and Ye Sportes of Ye Queneslanders [sic] in 1864 & 1865 , where he is shown painting three crude pictures – Blackfelloes Climbing Ye Greesie Pole & fighting for a bottel of Rum at Master Dayes Hostelrie , Ye fire Works in Queen Stt on ye night of ye 1st Decr 1864 and Ye opening of ye bridge at Brisbane – and exclaiming 'Egad! When these arrive at old England I should not wonder if they make me an F.R.A.’ Other drawings were prepared for publication, including his view of the bridge celebrations, which appeared, unacknowledged, in the Illustrated London News (3 December 1864). The principal purpose of Watt’s sketches, however, was for letterheads on stationery so that migrants pouring into Brisbane at the time might convey an impression of the place to their correspondents in pictures as well as words. Consequently, it was Watt’s image of Brisbane as the progressive capital of the new colony which was disseminated abroad before the financial slump of 1866.
Possibly intending to return to Queensland, Watt sailed for Sydney and Melbourne in 1866, then returned home to England. He spent some time studying to be an art teacher but finally became a Manchester glove merchant. His mercantile success enabled him to travel to most parts of the world, sketching all the way, in watercolour as well as pencil and brown ink. To England he bequeathed a unique set of buildings, to Australia nine volumes of his collected sketches (ML).
- Writers:
- Fisher, Rod
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
