Alfred Delves Broughton weighing gold for escort, Commissioner Camp, Turon River, Nov. 1851, Trooper Ayers standing sentry., Diggers 3 brothers named Gibson., W.E. King Gold Commissioner in the Turon River / Thomas Balcombe

P1/2432

fonds

July 1852

Graphic Materials, Drawings

9680406

1 drawing - 25 x 34 cm - pencil

Thomas Tyrwhitt Balcombe was born on 15 June 1810 in The Briars on the island of Saint Helena, British Overseas Territory. He emigrated to Sydney in April 1824 after his father was appointed Colonial Treasurer of NSW. Thomas Balcombe worked as a draughtsman in the Surveyor-General's Department from September 1830 and was later promoted to field surveyor, the department he would remain in for the rest of his life. He surveyed in the Murray River area, producing a number of sketches he would later work into paintings. On 27 June 1840 in Wollondilly, New South Wales, he married Lydia Elizabeth Stuckey (1820-1910) with whom he had three children. Following his marriage, he had a number of lithographs printed and, by the end of the 1840s, he had developed a local reputation as an artist. His works were exhibited by the Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Australia in 1849 and were highly praised. His drawings and lithographs were published in various colonial publications and, in October 1851, Thomas joined his brother William at the Turon River goldfields at Sofala, New South Wales where he created an album of nine drawings, Sketches at the Gold Diggings, 1852. Following William's death, Thomas returned to Sydney where these drawings were published in the Sydney Morning Herald in July 1852. He continued making sketches and portraits in Sydney and the Turon area until at least 1857. He committed suicide on 13 October 1861 at his home in Paddington, Sydney.

References:
Design & Art Australia Online. "Thomas Tyrwhitt Balcombe". Accessed 29 May 2024. https://www.daao.org.au/bio/thomas-tyrwhitt-balcombe/biography/

Gift from the artist to his brother, Alexander Beatson Balcombe (1811-1877), Victoria. Thence by descent, private collection, Melbourne. Later sold at auction by Menzies, October 2023, and acquired by vendor.

1 pencil drawing on paper showing a scene at the goldfields on the Turon River in Sofala, New South Wales. It depicts the inside of the Assistant Commissioner’s tent where Alfred Delves Broughton, Clerk to the Assistant Commissioner, is seated at a table, weighing gold for escort. Other named figures present include Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands at Sofala, William Essington King; Trooper Ayers shown near the entrance of the tent with a pistol, and three brothers from the Gibson family.

Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

This drawing was probably a preparatory sketch for an illustration by Thomas Balcombe which was published in the Illustrated London News on 22 January 1853. A copy of this illustration is held by the Library at F980.1/I

Title taken from annotations on verso.

Signed and dated "T. Balcombe. July 1852" in lower left corner.