Frances BUSSELL
England 1805 /1809 – Australia 1881
Australia from 1833

John Garrett BUSSELL
after England 1803 – Western Australia 1875
Australia from 1829

John Garrett Bussell's cottage at Port Augusta on the Blackwood River c.1833
pen and brown ink
16.8 (h) x 22.4 (w) cm
Private collection

John Garrett Bussell constructed a homestead along the Blackwood River, which, on 5 November 1833, shortly after his sisters Frances (Fanny) and Elizabeth (Edith) arrived in the colony, was destroyed by fire. As a memento, Frances made a delightful pen-and-ink portrait of this cottage in its bushland setting, after a painting by her brother. It is an unaffected personal record of a place significant to the artists, showing the progress made in civilising the land.