Archer Family watercolours
Collection
3 watercolour paintings by members of the Archer Family. There is debate as to whether the artist was Charles or Alexander Archer. Family members believe the artist was Charles Archer. The first work is entitled "Durandur" [Durundur], and depicts the station in the Brisbane Valley established by the Archer brothers in 1841. The painting shows the property around the time that the brigalow scrub was cleared and the first slab huts erected. The other works are "The squatter taking his ease: a room in Woroongundi Homestead" and "The Ellida on the Fitzroy River". Also contained is an offset-reproduction of the watercolour "Durundur".
Charles Archer was born in 1813 in Perth, Scotland, one of thirteen children of the timber merchant William Archer and his wife Julia, nee Walker. In 1825 the family moved to Larvik, Norway. Charles Archer and his brothers John, David, William, Archibald, Thomas and Colin successively came to Australia. Charles Archer arrived in Sydney in 1841 and worked there until 1843. By then his brothers David, Thomas and John had taken up land in the Moreton Bay District, Durundur (or Durandur) Station near present-day Woodford. Charles joined his brothers there in 1843.
Out of copyright.