• Title
  Drawings depicting aboriginal life, ca. 1885 / drawn by "King Billy"
• Creator
  Tommy McRae, 1830s-1901
• Call number
  PXA 2129
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  ca. 1885
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Drawings
• Reference code
  446974
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  1 album (15 ink sketches) - 24.7 x 31.5 cm.
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Tommy McRae spent most of his life in the upper Murray region of New South Wales and Victoria, and may have belonged to the Kwatkwat people of that area. He was known variously as Tommy McCrae, Tommy Barnes, Yakaduna, and Warra-euea, Chief of the Wahgunya tribe. McRae began sketching in the 1860s, traditional Aboriginal life and the presence of European pastoralists forming his principal subject matter. He gained recognition during his lifetime and sold many of his works.
  
  For further information see:
  Aboriginal artists of the nineteenth century / Andrew Sayers. Melb.: Oxford University Press in association with the National Gallery of Australia, 1996
  Dictionary of Australian artists : painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870 / Joan Kerr (ed.). Melb. : Oxford University Press, 1992
• Scope and Content
  1. [Hunting emu]
  2. [Ceremony]
  3. [Hunting possums and goannas]
  4. [Ceremony]
  5. [Stalking emu]
  6. [Ceremony]
  7. [Ceremony]
  8. [Ceremony]
  9. [Two men with shields and clubs]
  10. [Hunting birds]
  11. [Ceremony]
  12. [Squatter watching a duel]
  13. [Ceremony]
  14. [Family spearing fish]
  15. [Ceremony]
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  Transferred from the manuscripts location A 2129 (preservation microfilm copy made Sept. 1991).
  Title, date and original attribution to ""King Billy"" based on typed statement inserted at beginning of album.
  
  Attributed to Tommy McRae. Formerly catalogued under the name ""King Billy"".
  Rehoused Sept. 1993.
  
  Contents list compiled by Sayers, A., in: Aboriginal artists of the nineteenth century. Melb.: Oxford University Press in association with the National Gallery of Australia, 1996.
  
  Microfilm available at CY 2317, frames 1 - 26
  Digital order no:Album ID : 823613
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  "Mr Lefaivre, 89 Womerah Av. Darlinghurst, got the attached book of abo[riginal] drawings from "King" Billy, about 39 years ago. Mr Lefaivre was travelling for the Universal Nursery Co. at the time, and was often down near Corowa, where several hundred abo[riginal]s were camped, "King Billy" among them. "King Billy" used often to do little drawings depicting abo[riginal] life. These drawings he would sell to the people of the township. One day Mr Lefaivre asked "King Billy" if he would do a book of drawings, and offered [1 pound] as an incentive, "King Billy" agreed. A book, pen and ink were purchased at the local store, and he set to work. The work occupied a fortnight. Mr Lefaivre has kept the book all these years in his trunk. He has been a traveller nearly all his life, and has worked through Australia, New Zealand, and the Islands. He is an American by birth, and came to Australia about 40 years ago. He is now 74 years of age. 26.10.25" -- unsigned typed statement inserted at beginning of album
• Conservation note
  
  Album cover and leaves separately mounted for preservation reasons.
• Subject
  children
  Adult Females
  Adult Males
  
• Topic
  Aboriginal art
  corroborees
  hunting
  rites & ceremonies
  spearfishing
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Aboriginal Artists of the 19th Century
  Belonging to Country, Bunjilaka Gallery

View Media Files

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

Show more