William Benson b. 1848

  • Artist (Draughtsman)
William Benson was an English Quaker who toured Australia in the late 1860s. His descriptive journals, of which there are seven volumes, are illustrated with sketches and they document his travels throughout the Australian colonies. The diaries are now held in the Religious Society of Friends' Library in London.

sketcher and diarist, was an English Quaker who visited all the Australian colonies in 1866-68 in the company of John and Charles Holdsworth and a tutor, Mr Bell. They went to Sydney and Wollongong in New South Wales, Melbourne, Ballarat and other Victorian diggings, Hobart Town and various Tasmanian townships, as well as Adelaide, some South Australian mining settlements and various parts of West Australia. Benson’s seven volumes of descriptive journals, now in the Religious Society of Friends’ Library, London, are illustrated with sketches of buildings (e.g. Sydney University and Richmond Church, Tasmania), scenery, botanical and zoological specimens, and maps.

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Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011