William Adams b. c.1776

Also known as Mr Adams
  • Artist (Draughtsman)
William Adams and his son James, also an artist, worked on a property at Dundas, New South Wales. It is unclear whether William or James was responsible for 145 drawings of Australian plants, insects and butterflies made between 1842 and 1848 and attributed simply to 'Mr Adams'.

natural history artist and station hand, was possibly the Mr Adams to whom a collection of 145 finely detailed drawings of Australian plants, insects and butterflies made between 1842 and 1848 has been attributed. In 1838 William Adams married Mary White at St Anne’s Church of England, Ryde (Sydney). William and Mary, however, had a son, James Adams (1816-72), who may equally have done the sketches. Both men were employed on a property at Dundas, New South Wales, owned by Richard Cowell, whose descendants gave the drawings to the Mitchell Library. William Adams died on 2 September 1870, James Adams on 16 August 1872.

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
1989