sketcher, amateur photographer, writer, explorer, scientist and public servant, was born on 17 April 1830 in Nottingham, England, eldest surviving son of two Quaker authors, William Howitt and Mary, née Botham. Educated largely in Heidelberg, Germany, and at University College, London, Alfred came to Melbourne with his father and brother, Charlton, aboard the Kent in 1852. They spent two years on the goldfields and travelling around the Victorian countryside.
Alfred elected to remain in Victoria when his father and brother returned to England. His familiarity with the bush was partly responsible for his appointment as leader of the 1861 relief expedition to locate the Burke and Wills party (it found King) and of the following expedition to bring back the remains of Burke and Wills. He made drawings on these journeys and at least two scenes in Thomas Chuck 's Grand Moving Diorama of the Victorian Exploring Expedition (1862-63) were said to be painted from Howitt’s sketches: Death of Burke , in which 'the golden tints of the setting sun cast their shadows over the scene’, and Burke’s Grave at Cooper’s Creek .
In 1863 Howitt was appointed police magistrate and warden on the Omeo goldfields, thus beginning a long career of public service. In his official capacity he made extensive journeys of exploration, becoming an authority on the geology and botany of Victoria and later on Aboriginal culture. With Lorimer Fison he published Kamilaroi and Kurnai in 1880, a landmark in anthropological studies. He wrote many scientific papers and books; his last, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia , was published in 1904. As an internationally renowned scientist he received many honours in both Australia and England towards the end of his life.
Several expeditions were made with artist friends. With Bateman , Chevalier and von Gu é rard Howitt explored the Baw Baw plateau in 1858, in 1860 von Guérard joined him on a prospecting expedition in Gippsland. He was a competent amateur artist and obviously stimulated, if not specifically influenced, by association with these accomplished professionals. Six drawings are reproduced in Walker’s biography: a sketch of Cooper’s Creek, three line drawings of the Omeo district, a pencil sketch of the hut in the Dandenongs where he camped with Bateman in 1858 and a view of Dr Godfrey Howitt’s homestead at Cape Schanck. He also took daguerreotypes and was planning to make a photographic river voyage with his young cousin Edward Howitt in 1853. No surviving photographs, however, have been identified.
Howitt died at Lucknow, Victoria, on 7 March 1908 and was buried in Bairnsdale Cemetery beside his wife, Maria Robinson, née Boothby, whom he had married in 1864. Two sons and three daughters survived them.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
