British landscapes at the Library courtesy Alfred Winter 1874

Alfred Winter was a Melbourne photographer who moved to Hobart Tasmania in 1869 and maintained a successful practice in studio portraiture and landscapes. On Sundays and holidays he travelled to beauty spots around Hobart with his apprentice Frank Miller, that is, until Miller came under suspicion of thieving from his master, and although arrested, the charge was dismissed for lack of evidence (The Mercury 19 October 1877).

Landscapes were Winter’s speciality. He gained a commission with the Hobart Municipal Council’s Land and Works Office in the mid-1870s, but he may have had a yearning to paint. In August 1874 he took the trouble to place on views his three oil paintings by British landscape artists in the reading room of the Public Library, housed upstairs in the Hobart Town Hall.

The first painting (below) by British landscape artist William Shayer was possibly the view mentioned in The Mercury article, 17 August 1874. The second painting is an example only of the other artist’s work, Henry G. Duguid.

WILLIAM SHAYER

Courtesy The Athenaeum
Cattle By A Stream
William Shayer Snr – No dates listed
Private collection
Painting – oil on canvas
Height: 60 cm (23.62 in.), Width: 51 cm (20.08 in.)

William Shayer Biography

The name of William Shayer has been linked with Morland, Ibbeston and Wheatley, all great English landscape painters of the 18th century. In his own right, Shayer is one of our first-class rural artists, with a delightful style and composition entirely his own, and completely free from imitation. He is at his best depicting the rural life of Hampshire and the New Forest; the countrymen and women going about their daily tasks, or resting in the shade of leafy boughs, faces shaded by big rustic hats; stopping at the inn on their return from market, or urging on teams of horses hauling timber.

His pictures express the great love and sympathy he had for the countryside and its people, and his wonderful sense of draughtsmanship and the perfect balance of his palette enabled him to reproduce the very spirit of what he observed – the translucence of reflected light, the sandy bank and filtered sunlight of the forest lanes.

Although he did not exhibit until well into his thirties, his work achieved considerable success and much praise from the art critics of his day. He did exhibit over two hundred paintings in his lifetime, and showed at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, the Society of British Artists and Suffolk Street. He sometimes painted with E C Williams, the one painting the landscape and the other painting the figures.

His paintings have always been highly sought after and today his work is valued for its accurate representation of rural life in the first three-quarters of the 19th century.

His works can be found in many galleries, museums and private collections throughout the world, including The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Montreal; Glasgow and Leicester

Selected Exhibitions 1825 – 1870
Shayer showed over 330 works at the Royal Society of British Artists and 80 at the British Institution.
He exhibited also at the Royal Academy and at the British Institution of London. His works have been displayed in museums in Glasgow, Leicester, London, Montreal, and Sunderland.

HENRY DUGUID

Courtesy Artnet
Henry G. Duguid
Linlithgow Palace and Chapel, from the south, looking toward the River Forth and Ochil Hill
Oil on Canvas
20 x 30.1 in. / 50.8 x 76.5 cm.
Signed, Inscribed
Sale Of Christie’s East: Wednesday, February 26, 1997
[Lot 291]
Old Master and 19th Century European Paintings

THE MERCURY, 17 AUGUST 1874

Alfred Winter’s exhibition of British landscape artists,
William Shayer and Henry Duguid at the Public Library.
The Mercury 17 August 1874.

TRANSCRIPT

PICTURES IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. - There are now on view in the reading room of the Public Library, three oil paintings, the property of Mr Alfred Winter, photographer, of Elizabeth-street, who has placed them there for the inspection of the public. The gem of the three is “Cattle drinking at the Stream” by W. Shayer. The others are larger, and as landscapes they unquestionably occupy a high place. They are both by the same artist. H. G. Duguid, the one being “Nidpath Castle, Peebles in the distance on the Tweed” and the other “Landing Place, Stirling, Anchel Hills and Cambuskenneth Abbey.” All the paintings have attracted much attention, and connoisseurs agree, we believe, as to their being very excellent works of art.

ALFRED WINTER PANORAMA

Courtesy State Library of Tasmania
Title: Photograph – Panorama of Hobart, in four conjoined parts, taken from the Glebe.
Alfred Winter photographer
Description: 1 photographic print
Format: Photograph
ADRI: NS2960-1-2
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania
Series: Panoramas of Hobart, 1856 – 1905 (NS2960)
Notes: Four panoramas of Hobart that were in the custody of the Hobart Bellringers and stored in the Bell Tower of the former Holy Trinity Anglican Church in North Hobart. It is believed that the photographs were acquired by the Bellringers around the time each of the photographs were taken. 1870

Alfred Biggs and the telephone 1877

Alfred Biggs and his telephone prototype, 1870s

Images courtesy of Archives Office of Tasmania
Ref: Portrait – 30-2892c

BIOGRAPHY (Notes from ADB online)

Biggs, Alfred Barrett (1825 – 1900)

BIGGS, ALFRED BARRETT (1825-1900), teacher, bank officer, astronomer and inventor, was born on 10 April 1825 in London, eldest son of Abraham Biggs, carpenter, and his wife Eliza, née Coleman. In 1833 the family moved to Van Diemen’s Land. Abraham’s involvement in Methodism and eventually in the teaching profession was to have a strong influence on Alfred, who took up a tutoring position at Bothwell in 1845. Three years later he became a bank clerk in Hobart Town, but left for Melbourne in 1852, continuing in banking then returning to teaching. On 22 February 1855 at Melville Street Wesleyan Chapel, Hobart, Biggs married Harriet Burville. In 1858 he became headmaster of the Hoddle Street School, Melbourne. The family returned in 1864 to Tasmania, where Biggs again took a teaching post at Bothwell.

In 1872 they moved to Campbell Town. There he taught in the public school and befriended Dr William Valentine. Both men were fascinated by astronomy and in 1874 a rare astronomical event occurred: the transit of Venus. Valentine had invited an American expedition to view the transit from his home. Biggs assisted with the observations and the Americans gave him a building they had used in making their observations.

In 1877 Biggs learned of the invention of the telephone.

The Mercury 8 May 1877

He then constructed a pair of telephones and had them connected between Launceston and Campbell Town, successfully transmitting sounds between the two locations. It has been claimed that this was the first telephone connection in Australia. About 1879 he moved to Launceston and took a position as accountant and ledger-keeper with the Launceston Bank for Savings. His continuing interest in astronomy led to the construction of an observatory in the western part of the city. Despite the small size of his telescopes—his instruments were then a 2-inch (51-mm) and a 3-inch (76-mm) refractor—Biggs was a diligent and pedantic observer, becoming known as Launceston’s ‘Astronomer Royal’. He contributed reports to the local newspaper and from 1884 papers to the Royal Society of Tasmania, of which he was that year elected a fellow. He made observations and measurements of comets, double stars, eclipses and transits of Mercury and Venus (another transit of Venus occurred in 1882).

In 1885 he came into possession of an 8½ inch (216-mm) diameter reflecting telescope, originally owned by Valentine.

Biggs had a reputation as an inventor and instrument maker. He constructed a microscope—grinding the lenses himself—and both a vertical and a horizontal seismometer; his interest in seismology was likely to have been aroused by Launceston’s small earth tremors about 1880. Other devices he made included an observatory clock driven by a float and micrometers to measure angular separations, such as the apparent distance between double stars, through the telescope. For the detection of counterfeit coins he invented a coin tester.

His devotion to religious activities was lifelong. At St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Launceston, Biggs played the organ and conducted the choir; he composed at least three hymns. He saw no conflict between religion and science. When he was a teacher, he had some difficult times with the Board of Education. However, his thin, bearded face was suggestive of a man with a sense of humour. A frequent writer of letters to the press, he was a committee member and sometime president and treasurer of the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute. Predeceased by his wife, Biggs died on 19 December 1900 at his residence above the bank and was buried in the general cemetery. Six of his eight children survived him.

A 1935 memorial to Biggs stands in Royal Park, Launceston, near the former site of his observatory.

Select Bibliography
M. Giordano, Watcher of the Skies (Launc, Tas, 1995);
Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1933;
Records of the Queen Victoria Museum Launceston, no 89, 1985;
Examiner (Launceston), 29 Sept 1886, p 2, 20 Dec 1900, p 7;
Biggs family papers (Archives Office of Tasmania);
private information.
Author: Martin George