Eliott Family Scrapbook: Pioneers and Prominent Figures

The Eliott Family Scrapbook, This, and the following four lots are from the collection of the Eliott family, one of the first families to settle in the New England area of Northern New South Wales. The book has been passed down through five generations to the current descendants. It is of particular interest because of its connections to many pioneering families as well as family connections to the very first administrators of the Colony. The scrapbook belonged to Jane Richards (nee Nicholas), wife of Captain William Richards III whose family provided ships for the First Fleet, and were important in the earliest trade between England and the early colony of New South Wales. Their daughter Sarah married Frances Willoughby Eliott, the son of Gilbert Eliott, who was a prominent figure in the early administration of the Colony of N.S.W. Gilbert was appointed Police Magistrate at Parramatta by Governor Sir George Gipps in June 1842 and in January 1854 he became chief of the three commissioners for the city of Sydney. As well as being one the original families to settle near Walcha, Elliott acquired pastoral leases in the Wide Bay area. In May 1860 he easily won the seat of Wide Bay, a squatter electorate, in the first Queensland Legislative Assembly and became the first Speaker, a post which he retained until his retirement in 1870. The contents of the scrapbook include contributions from George James Macdonald [1805-1851], who was a frequent visitor to Winterbourne, the family pastoral property at Walcha. There are several of his poems, handwritten and signed by him. A poem titled 'The Evening Lake' was apparently written about Lake Innes, the home of Major Archibald Clunes Innes, the commandant of the penal colony at Port Macquaries from 1826-28. The scrapbook contains other handwritten poems by other poets, as well as artwork, sketches and examples of early photography, particularly of Raratonga and New Zealand, where Jane's brother, also a sea captain, settled. Other contributors, William Nicholas [1807-54, brother of Jane] was a well known colonial watercolourist. Albert John Nicholas [1812-88, brother of Jane] was a sea captain who traded up and down the New Zealand eastern coastline and married a Maori princess, Maka Kahi Te Wahoroa Ngatithana in approximately 1838, settling in Tauranga. His son Henry married a Rarotongan princess. The scrapbook contains early photographs of New Zealand and particularly of Rarotonga. There is also a fine small watercolour of Auckland. Robert Issell Perrott [1822-95], a sketcher, Clerk of the Peace at Port Macquarie, and farmer. The scrapbook is ornately bound in leather with gilt highlights. While some items have been removed and several pages clipped, the original contents make this a most fascinating survivor. A more extensive background and appreciation is available on request.