Description

Extended Data

Birth Place

Faversham, Kent, England, UK

Biography

painter and medical dispenser, was born on 19 January 1841 in Faversham, Kent, son of William Parker Hoare and Helen, née Webster. He accompanied a shipload of British migrants to Brisbane in the Golden City about 1860 but eventually settled in Adelaide in 1865. He was undoubtedly the 'W.H.’ Hoare reported as winning the prize for the best oil painting of animals 'from life’ by a resident of the colony at the South Australian Society of Arts’ 1865 exhibition. He painted watercolours of South Australian insects in 1866 (Mortlock Library). In 1868 Hoare was appointed surgeon’s assistant and dispenser on Goyder 's expedition to the Northern Territory (then part of South Australia) and left Adelaide with the rest of the party aboard the Moonta in December. They arrived at Port Darwin on 5 February 1869 and Hoare made an oil sketch of the landing place and camp. He painted eight panoramic views showing Port Darwin from Fort Point to Point Emery which he sent back to Adelaide in the Moonta ; these were favourably reviewed by the Adelaide Observer . For the ship’s captain, Hoare also made a souvenir sketch of the waterfall named after him, Barresson Springs. Apart from his medical duties as assistant to Dr Robert Peel, Hoare spent most of his time at Port Darwin engaged in sketching, noting in his diary: 'I had a box of moist watercolour given to me belonging to the Government and was given to understand that I am to illustrate all perishable specimens of Natural History’. He painted animal specimens for Peel (who also acted as naturalist) and botanical specimens for the father and son botanists, Frederick and Alfred Schultze. For Goyder he painted two black butterflies and received access to Goyder’s library in return. For himself he sketched the Aboriginal weapons and artefacts he obtained by barter. Hoare also painted the scenery for the makeshift 'Theatre Royal’, his drop-curtain representing a panoramic view of Port Darwin. Goyder encouraged the nightly performances at the 'theatre’ in an attempt to lift the spirits of his party, many of whom were suffering from dysentery and/or scurvy. Hoare wrote dispiritedly in his journal on 23 August: 'I cleaned and sent 21 Water Colour Drawings to Mr Goyder. It rained hard at 2.15 a.m. All the men had Lime Juice as Scurvey is amongst some of them. We had some goat’s Flesh for tea which I thought a great treat. No Gulnare arrived but I hope she will not be long before she is sighted. My legs pain me very much towards evening’, and then: 'Ship in Sight good news’. The Gulnare , captained by the photographer Samuel Sweet , brought mail and fresh provisions, and a month later took Hoare and most of the party back to Adelaide. After his return, Hoare worked as a dispenser in Adelaide Hospital until he retired in 1892; he then left for England. An oil painting of kangaroos in an Australian landscape (1894, NLA) was done after his return. He died, unmarried, at Ramsgate, Kent, on 20 October 1927. Hoare seems to have had a flair for the theatrical. He wore, even as a young man, a long, flowing beard reaching to his waist. On board the Moonta he took part in, and won, a round-robin boxing tournament, using the assumed name 'The Queensland Slasher’. And Margaret Goyder Kerr has published a photograph of Hoare – still bearded, wearing a costume and boots made of fur – as an 'ancient Briton’ in the 1911 Empire Pageant at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. Writers: Staff Writer Date written: 1992 Last updated: 2011

Born

b. 19 January 1841

Summary

Painter and medical dispenser, in 1868 he joined Goyder's expedition to the Northern Territory (then part of South Australia) and painted flora, fauna and landscapes.

Gender

Male

Died

20-Oct-27

Age at death

86