Design and Art Australia Online

sketcher, shipbuilder and merchant seaman, son of William Conrad Korff, was born on 7 September 1799 and trained as a naval architect in Deptford, England. Bankrupted in 1834, John migrated to New South Wales the following year. His wife Mary, née Gordon, followed in 1840 with their daughter (who died at sea on the voyage out) and four sons, including John Conrad (1822 53), a cooper who initially worked in John’s Sydney shipbuilding business then at the Hunter River building yard. Ships built by Korff senior included the Victoria, the first steamship constructed in the colony (1840); the cutter Alfred (1842), later commanded by Captain Lucas; and the cutter Harriett (1840), owned in 1844 by M. Korff (presumably another son). Several were named Brothers to signify the solidarity of Korff’s sons, including a schooner (1841) owned by Gordon and Frederick Korff in 1844. By that year Korff & Co.'s shipbuilding business was at Miller’s Point, Sydney.

In 1851 John Korff, listed as a marine surveyor of Lower George Street, Sydney, was secretary to the FitzRoy Iron Mining Company. He visited the New South Wales goldfields soon after they were opened as a partner in an Ophir gold-mining company. Sketch of the Gold Diggings at Ophir, 'from a drawing taken on the spot by Mr J. Korff May 1851’, was lithographed in Sydney by Thomas Balcombe. The competence of this print (ML) can be almost entirely attributed to Balcombe for Korff was an unskilled sketcher of limited repertoire who avoided figures and tended to represent buildings as basic geometric shapes, a style indistinguishable from that of his son Frederick, their separate contributions being identifiable only when initialled. Nevertheless, their sketches are of some interest since they drew numerous views along virtually the whole east coast of Australia, a large number from the deck of the ketch Brothers in 1856.

John Korff was found guilty of obtaining money by false pretences in April 1852. Although the verdict was soon reversed on a point of law, the chief justice gratuitously commented that on the evidence presented Korff was a cheat and a rogue. A.B. Spark, hitherto a friend of both Korff and his wife, confided to his diary, 'his reputation is sadly stained’. Mrs Korff purchased six acres at the Glebe in her own name and the Sydney branch of the business closed, the family being socially ruined. John seems to have taken to sea and afterwards re-established the business north of Newcastle.

The subjects of Korff’s sketches, predictably, were often mariners’ landmarks such as mountains and lighthouses. His sketches of Wollongong Harbour, No 1 Tom Thumbs Lagoon and Cape Hopkins[?] Illawarra, date from 1853. By mid 1854 he was sketching in and around George Town, Tasmania. In 1856 he was sailing in Queensland waters in the seventh Brothers; his pencil and wash drawing Part of Bribies [sic] Island is dated 1 February 1856 and annotated: 'at our first anchorage went on shore to look for natives. Plenty of tracks but none seen-JK cut on tree-plenty of fresh water’. Other Queensland views include the Glass House Mountains as seen from the deck of the ship and views of the 'Moolulah [sic] River’, Mount Warning, Cape Moreton with its lighthouse, and Moreton Bay.

A wash drawing of the wreck of the Brothers later that year is inscribed: 'No 2 Bar of fearful breakers. 11.30 p.m. Friday Oct 3rd 1856. Ketch Brothers wrecked in a fearful storm. Wind ENE’. Another, sketched later in the month, is annotated: 'Ketch “Brothers” Moreton Bay October 16 1856 at about 10.15 p.m. while crossing the bar from Bribie Island in my whaleboat with four men, W. Lannac and one aboriginal woman: observed a meteoric star fall from the moon, the phenomena lasted about five seconds, a clear night, wind N.E. and the moon full 9.3.6 (14 days) John Korff’. His last known sketch is a pencil and wash view of Newcastle dated November 1857. Korff died on 14 December 1870. Coffs (originally Korff’s) Harbour in northern New South Wales where he had moved his shipbuilding business is named after him.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011