Design and Art Australia Online

watercolour painter, writer, naval officer and settler, was educated at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. From 1831 he served with the navy in South American waters. Retiring from active service, he came to New South Wales on board the Coromandel in 1838 and was put in charge of overlanding stock between Sydney and Adelaide, departing in December 1838 and reaching Adelaide the following April. Extracts from his diary containing accounts of contacts with Aborigines and life in Adelaide were published in 1965, edited by D.H. Pike. Later in 1839 Crawford visited New Zealand, then travelled to London via Greece. An album of 36 drawings of Greece, one dated 'Oct 8 [no] 26’, shows that he visited Syra, Athens, Patras and Corfu (auctioned Sotheby’s London, 1989).

He was soon back in New Zealand, where he lived from 1841 to 1844. Then he returned to Sydney with his wife and daughter and rented Forest Lodge at the Glebe for £70 yearly on 23 April 1845, although apparently already resident. One of his numerous watercolours is annotated verso 'My House at the Glebe, Sydney N.S.W. 1844’ (private collection). Other watercolours of the Glebe are also dated 1844 as well as 1846 49. In April 1845 Crawford purchased Eton Vale, Queensland, in partnership with Arthur Hodgson, husband of Eliza Hodgson . Wool Shed, Eton Vale, Darling Downs records a visit to the property. Another view in New Zealand is dated 1846 suggesting that he divided his time between both countries.

The National Library holds a sketchbook illustrating Crawford’s journey up the Wanganui River (NZ) in 1861 62, together with watercolour views done in Australia and New Zealand. The Mitchell Library has a group of New Zealand watercolours tentatively attributed to him. His folio of thirty-three views of New South Wales and Queensland in watercolour and pencil dated 1844 49 was sold at Sotheby’s (London) in June 1989 (photographs Mitchell Library). The subjects include St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, Sydney, Church at Parramatta , Residence of Robert Lowe, Lord Sherbrooke (see Georgiana Lowe), On the Road to Bathurst and Hill near Brewarrina , as well as the views of his Forest Lodge (Glebe) home and the Eton Vale woolshed. In his travels around New South Wales and Queensland, Crawford showed a special interest in the geological features of the country, although his sketches are more the work of a gentleman traveller interested in sublime and picturesque scenery than the productions of a trained natural scientist.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

1989