Accounts from Samuel Thomas Gill

Among the many thousands who set off for the Victorian gold fields to make their fortune was Samuel Thomas Gill.

He suspected that he was not going to be one of the lucky few who found riches, and instead stuck to a trade that he knew – commercial art. He specialised in paintings of the new colonies, cityscapes, artist accompanying an expedition into the interior and candid portraits of celebrities.

His biographer Michael Cannon says that “fortunately for us, Gill was the right man, of the right age, at the right place, at the right time. The gold rushes gave him endless subjects full of intense human interest. The contrasting types and fortunes of diggers yielded ample food for thought and wry conclusions on the human condition. The colony's new wealth and the huge interest aroused overseas about the goldfields even provided a market for an artist who could depict scenes and people as they really were." (1982)

He made hundreds of illustrations of life in Canvas Town and at the diggings, and many of these were used in the diorama of life in Canvas Town.

These paintings did not make Gill his fortune. Despite the brand new National Library of Victoria commissioning him to do a book called The Victorian Gold Fields, 1852 to 1853, and his glowing watercolours of life in the cities and the outback of South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria being popular, his work was too sardonic, realistic and Australian for a public who preferred English-style sentimentality. He fell out of favour with the public, was unable to sell any of his paintings to pay off his debts, took up drinking seriously, and he was buried in a pauper's grave.

Now in preparation, The diggers & diggings as they are in 1855 on stone by S.T. Gill is in the National Maritime Collection.

Activities

Choose one of Samuel Gill’s artworks and create a role-play based on the characters Gill has created. What would they be saying?

Look at Gill's work and compare and contrast it to another Australian goldfield’s artist of the time. For example: Eugene von Guérard, Edwin Stocqueler, William Strutt, Edmund Thomas, Henry Burn and Henry Gritten.

• Write a short response in the form of a narrative
• Write a poem
• Draw a picture 

How do artworks contribute to our understanding of the time?

Which image do you prefer? Give reasons for your opinion.

Write a critical review of  Samuel Thomas Gill’s work.

For more information about Samuel Thomas Gill and to more images:
https://www.oldtreasurybuilding.org.au/st-gill-australian-sketchbook/

http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/golden-victoria/life-fields/st-gill

http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au/ 

Main image: Zealous Gold Diggers by Samuel Thomas Gill. Image: State Library of Victoria