Captain [he was a sailor] Gus [Augustus] Pierce [i.e. Peirce], American variety tent theatre entrepreneur and photographer

1872
Glass photonegative

Gus Peirce (Pierce) was an American captain of Murray River steamers, who wrote a book of his adventures in Australia. He toured the goldfields with a panorama show, but soon after the first big rush at Hawkins Hill in 1871, he returned to Hill End and set up a tent theatre. Peirce was also a competent draughtsman and claims to have made £12 to £15 a day [25 times a miner’s wage] surveying and drawing mining claims, but that may be an exaggeration. He stayed in Hill End for eight months, building a three-room wattle and daub cottage for his family.