Item 01: The PS Collaroy, [ca. 1880 / drawing attributed to William Forster]

V/321

item

[ca. 1880]

Graphic Materials, Drawings

9608806

1 drawing - watercolour and gouache on wove paper - 32.5 x 50.5 cm

The Collaroy, an iron paddle steamer, was purchased in 1854 by the Australian Steam Navigation Co and operated for many years as a passenger vessel on the Hunter River trade. In 1879 she was sold to the Newcastle Steamship Co Ltd. but ran ashore at Narrabeen in 1881 during a dense fog. The suburb and beach of Collaroy now bears her name. She was sold at auction and refloated three years later. She was towed to Sydney for repairs and converted to a sailing ship. On her way to America in 1889 with a load of coal she was wrecked at Eureka, California.

Reference:
Library correspondence file.

Depicts the Collaroy steaming along the coast. The artist has included members of the crew working the vessel and passengers standing on the deck. The PS Collaroy was drawn as part of a pair with 'The PS Kembla'.

Out of copyright: Creator died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Titled on lower mount on piece of paper "The PS Collaroy".

Attributed to William Forster. Born in England in 1840, Forster was a prominent marine artist who visited Australia in the late nineteenth century and worked in Sydney and Newcastle. He died in 1891.

Attribution made by Day Fine Art, 21 July 2017.

Reference:
Library correspondence file.

Date based on the event in 1881 when the Collaroy ran ashore at Narrabeen during a dense fog. She was sold at auction and refloated three years later.

Amaze Gallery, 6 October 2018-2019 - State Library of New South Wales (2018)