portraitist and teacher, arrived at Western Australia from England on 5 March 1831 in the Eliza, then left for Van Diemen’s Land in the same ship in April. In Tasmania Mrs Hudson ran a school at Launceston, advertising in 1835 that drawing was taught there. In 1838, when apparently back in England, she painted oil portraits of the Western Australian settlers John and Elizabeth Hardey (the future parents of Mary Ann Hardey). That of Elizabeth is inscribed verso, 'Hanh. Maria Hudson Pinxt Mrs John Hardey – Aged 26/ Swan River Western Australia/ Barrow March 1838’; the companion portrait of John is undoubtedly by the same hand. Both have a background of black swans and (inaccurate) stylised exotic trees taken from the popular English print after the British marine painter William John Huggins, Swan River 50 Miles Up (who apparently made it from a drawing by F.R. Clause).
The Hardey portraits are now owned by the Western Australian Historical Society and hang in the former Hardey home, Tranby (National Trust, Western Australia) on the Swan River. There are five towns called Barrow in England and it seems likely that by 1838 Mrs Hudson had returned home and was living in one of them when visited by the Hardeys and commissioned to paint their portraits.
- Writers:
- Kerr, Joan
Note: Primary
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
