Bungaree, Chief of the Broken Bay tribe, New South Wales, 1830 by Charles Rodius.Credit: State Library of NSW
Hansen said the first colonial settlers were fascinated by Australian flora and fauna, later replaced in the early 19th century by an interest in the people and place.
The exhibition, which includes works held by the British Museum and the National Library Canberra, captures early Sydney’s characters.
They include ferry man Billy Blue, Dr Ludwig Leichhardt, the explorer who inspired Patrick White’s novel Voss, many First Nations peoples, and Maoris who lived in Sydney.
Portraits of Aboriginal chiefs and their wives were “so well executed” that a Sydney newspaper reported in 1834 that the “fidelity of the likenesses will at once strike every beholder who has been any length of time in the colony”.
It is hard to recognise the clean-shaven young man in a portrait by Rodius in 1854 as Parkes. The future premier was then a young newspaper editor.
Rodius is thought to have drawn Parkes in court trying to smash a strike at the time when industrial action was illegal. Today Parkes, known as the father of Federation, is readily identified in images by his massive brow, large head, wealth of hair and Santa-like snow-white beard.
Rodius’ portrait of 38-year-old Henry Parkes in 1854, when he was owner and editor of the Empire newspaper.Credit: State Library of NSW
According to Mitchell librarian Richard Neville, Rodius’ talent was equal to that of his famous contemporary Conrad Martens, but “his work was rejected by the art world and his name has almost vanished from art history”.
Damien Webb, manager of the library’s Indigenous engagement branch, says little is known about Rodius and the First Nations people in his portraits, or how much agency these subjects had in the interaction. It is unknown whether the Indigenous subjects were paid to sit for him.
Many early portraits of Aboriginal people tended towards caricature. Rodius appeared to hold a higher level of respect for these men and women, said Webb.
So, why was he forgotten? Hansen attributes it to the stain of convict heritage, the treatment of Aboriginal Australians at the time, and the almost complete neglect of colonial art in the 20th century.
Images made by colonial artists are evidence of a shared history, he said.
“Since the First Fleet it has been a shared history, and sometimes an ugly history, but nevertheless a shared history. Not to present this material is doing a disservice to history and to First Nations people.”
Charles Rodius. State Library of NSW. June 17-May 12. Admission is free.
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