Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Waterfall on the road to Bathurst Oct 20 1851

Waterfall on the road to Bathurst Oct 20 1851

DG SV1B / 11
Watercolour

During the 1850s-1860s, English-born etcher and illustrator Frederick Charles Terry (1825-1869) was known as one of the most accomplished artists in the colony. His carefully detailed watercolour paintings depicting Sydney’s life, landscapes and surrounds provide a fascinating historical record of the early days of the colony.

‘Waterfall on the road to Bathurst Oct [i.e. October]’ illustrates a view point on the Bathurst road, near a convict built station called the ‘Weather Board Inn.’ In this image, the artist depicts a gorge where the bushland was so dense, that Europeans believed ‘no man had ever walked [on the land] before.’ This virgin landscape is revealed in a golden light that’s diffused by a misty haze falling over the rugged cliffs and into the deep valleys.

Terry’s landscapes typically feature people, animals, birds and some form of activity.* Whether Terry actually ventured into the Blue Mountains is unknown; however the comparatively accurate depiction of the Mountain’s suggests that that they were painted from life.

Footnotes

*Australian Dictionary of Biography

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/terry-frederick-casemero-4701

Boom and bust

‘‘Weather Board Inn’ would appear to have been the first colonial building in what later became Wentworth Falls. The original weatherboard hut was built in 1814 by convicts who were carving the first road over the Blue Mountains. [Engineer William] Cox chose a site for this hut close to a stream 'of excellent water'. The hut evolved into a staging post for long westward journeys – Governor Macquarie used it on his journey to Bathurst in 1815. It became known as a place where travelling stock could find fodder and its name of "the weatherboard hut" was shortened to 'weatherboard', this even being used in official papers. The hut appears to have burnt down by c.1823. The new Weatherboard Inn appears to have begun construction shortly before 1827. By 1839 'the Weatherboard iInn' boasted three parlours, seven bedrooms, kitchen, taproom and bar, stores and suitable stabling for 17 horses, and a large and well-stocked garden. The inn was a stage for early coach lines including Cobb & Co. With the coming of the railway line (an 1862 railway survey plan showed the inn; the railway line to Weatherboard opened in 1867, and the line to Mount Victoria opened in 1868) and subsequent decline in road traffic the Inn appears to have gone out of business.’

NSW Environment & Heritage