professional photographer, surveyor and craftsman, was the eldest son of Stephen Spurling, a seaman in the Royal Navy. Educated at the Bluecoat School with the aim of following his father’s profession, Spurling proved to have no love of the sea. After coming to Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land, in 1837, he was appointed to the Lands and Survey Department where he possibly first became interested in photography, but it was not until the late 1850s, when working in partnership with Shepherd as a carver, gilder and frame-maker at 34 Brisbane Street, Hobart Town, that Spurling began taking photographs as an amateur interest. He opened a studio in Murray Street about 1860 and soon became one of the most popular portrait photographers in Tasmania.
His portraits of Tasmanian children shown at the 1866 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition were awarded a bronze medal. When the Duke of Edinburgh visited Tasmania in 1868 he was presented with an album of photographs of Tasmanian children by various local photographers; Spurling would undoubtedly have contributed. The Duke was so charmed by it that he requested a duplicate album be sent to Queen Victoria.
Like many Tasmanian photographers, Spurling also took photographs of the surviving Tasmanian Aboriginal people at Oyster Cove, including a head study of Trukanini. He continued to work in Hobart Town until 1875, when he was declared bankrupt. His sons Frederick and Stephen, who had worked with him, then took over the family business. Spurling senior initially remained with Frederick in Hobart Town while Stephen junior continued the branch opened at Launceston in 1873. The Launceston branch flourished under this more celebrated Stephen Spurling and his namesake son. It continued to have a great reputation for portraits of children according to Jack Cato, who had his photograph taken there in 1890, aged two, and met old Mr Spurling.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
