Design and Art Australia Online

Sarah Cross Little née Bingle (1832-1909), botanical artist, craftworker, and family historian, was the youngest daughter of John Bingle (1796-1882), a merchant and landholder from Gillingham, Kent, England, and Mary Cross of London. Her father arrived at Port Jackson as a settler on 16 December 1821 and established the first regular trading service between Sydney and Newcastle. He acquired 1800 acres of land at Dart Brook, in the Upper Hunter district, on which he settled and named Puen Buen. It was presumably at this property where Sarah Cross was born in 1832. In 1837 she returned with her family to England to live, but they returned to Australia in 1842 and again settled at Puen Buen. Her father played a significant role in the development of the Scone district, serving on the bench of magistrates and subscribing generously to church and hospital funds. Due to several poor seasons, John Bingle was forced to sell Puen Buen and became a business agent in Newcastle where he relocated with his family.

Sarah Cross Bingle was married to William Little (1832-1882) of Invermien, Scone, NSW at Christ Church, Newcastle by the Reverend Charles Pleydell Wilton, on the 3rd February, 1858. She and William lived at his father’s property, Belmont, North Richmond, NSW, for two years after their marriage, before moving to Invermien, Scone, when William’s father, Francis Little passed away. They remained at Invermien for several years until a period of drought forced her husband to sell the property, much as her father had done with Puen Buen years before. As noted by Sarah Little in her diary (Mitchell Library), “The continuous dry seasons and losses therefrom, and the pressure of the Bank of New South Wales necessitated the selling of 'Invermien’, which was a great trial to my dear husband, and his health never was the same afterwards and began to decline.” William Little died in 1882, the same year that her father passed away. Sarah and William Little had four sons and four daughters, of which four survived, Francis Archibald, William Maxwell, Mary Emma and Jessie Carlyle.

Among Sarah Cross Little’s artistic output, the Bingle Family scrap album (ML) is of particular note for its collages of seaweed, leaves, and emu feathers collected and arranged by Little in 1857, the year before she married William. A collage in the shape of a lyre displays manipulated seaweeds of various colours, in addition to miniscule animal shells and calcified coralline red algae which accent the lyre’s base and frame. Assembled in the form of a bouquet, Little’s emu feather arrangement is composed of gathered plumes that are secured throughout the composition by adhesive and gold thread. The inscription below the arrangement reads, “Emu Feathers from an Emu Captured on the Downs in front of 'Invermien’ house by 'Smuggler’ William Little’s Kangaroo Dog, Arranged by Sarah C. Bingle 1857.” In addition to representing an appropriation of native flora and fauna, Little’s seaweed and feather compositions display a fusion of natural history, arts and crafts typical of the second half of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, her work belongs to a strong tradition of album-making, a popular pastime of middle-class families throughout this period, the practice of which was facilitated by the commercial production of blank albums made readily available in local shops.

Of additional note, are several amateur photographs in the album taken by Joseph Docker (1802-1884), who owned Thornthwaite, the neighboring estate to Puen Buen. An amateur photographer as well as a surgeon and politician, Joseph Docker was well acquainted with the Bingle and Little families, as is evident Sarah Little’s diary, “The Honorable Joseph Docker of 'Thornthwaite’, Scone, was a great friend of W. Little – also my father. The former used to spend three days every week at Puen Buen, drive (sic) down to attend the Courts in Scone.” The collected album photographs are all calotypes, a form with which Docker was one of the earliest in Australia to experiment, and feature his property Thornthwaite between the years 1850 and 1855.

Writers:

Duggins, MollyNote:

Date written:

2008

Last updated:

2011

Status:

peer-reviewed