These paintings were amongst over 10,000 objects bequeathed to The Australian Museum by the estate of Charles Melbourne (Mel) Ward in 1976. Mel Ward, who in his latter years was an honorary zoologist at The Australian Museum, operated The Gallery of Natural History and Native Art in the grounds of Medlow Bath’s famous Hydro Majestic Hotel from 1943 till 1963, after which he ran Pyala Museum at Echo Point in Katoomba till his death in 1966. Seven of the paintings are in fact, copies of ‘scenic tableau’ photographs of Gumbainggir and Bundjalung people from the Clarence River district of northern NSW, which were taken between 1870 and 1875 by German born photographer, John William Lindt. From 1869 to 1876, Lindt photographed both Aboriginal and European people in his popular Grafton studios. The eighth painting is a copy of a watercolour drawing of an Aboriginal woman of the Coorong area of coastal South Australia, done by naturalist and artist, George French Angas in 1844.

Very little is known about the origin or purpose of the Ward Collection Eight – photographs of Ward’s Gallery of Natural History and Native Art reveal many displays – a chart titled, ‘Heights and Physical Characteristics of Racial Types’, early Aboriginal ‘tribal’ maps, bark paintings, shields, spears, hand painted silhouettes and portraits of Aboriginal people and even a free standing, life size, cut-out painting of a ‘Mornington Man’ (which also appears to have been copied from a photograph) and an extensive library of rare Australiana books. Perhaps the paintings were copied from one of these books for use as ‘display’? And what of the people in the photos and their likeness’ journey from sepia to oil paint…from subject of a staged photo to subject of a museum display? Zona Wilkinson, Penrith Regional Gallery’s Curator of Aboriginal Programs, feels that ‘edited’ material like this can be both helpful and misleading to those searching for family information. Gumbainggir man and talented Penrith based artist, Chris Edwards was delighted when he saw the Ward Collection Eight, they were oil paintings of his people and a source of inspiration.

The terrible losses of life, dislocation and generational trauma that Aboriginal people have endured at the hands of Europeans and the notable absence of any large body of paintings depicting NSW Aboriginal people, transforms The Ward Collection Eight from odd copies of ethnographic material and examples of a museum style now outmoded to precious records– the oil paint gracefully detailing the countenance and dress of ‘loved ones’ for the interest of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people today.

 We are most grateful to The Australian Museum for their generous loan of the Ward Collection Eight and also to Grafton Gallery for their loan of the Lindt print.