George French Angas

Milmendura Tribe: Four views of dwellings.

George French Angas was born in 1822 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His Father, George Fife Angas, was a
prominent merchant and banker and a leading figure in promoting the
colonization of South Australia. Angas was something of a disappointment to his
family, being more interested in drawing than banking. In 1843 he sailed to
South Australia on one of his father's ships and spent the next two years
travelling and sketching extensively in South Australia and New Zealand,
holding exhibitions in Adelaide and Sydney.

Angas
returned to England in 1846 to exhibit his drawings and solicit subscriptions for
South Australia Illustrated and The
New Zealanders Illustrated. These two grand, large folios works commenced
publication simultaneously in 1846 and were each issued in ten parts at
two-monthly intervals over 1846 and 1847. South
Australia Illustrated was
published by Thomas M'Lean. The
work of transferring Angas's sketches to the stone was done by M'Lean's
employees, who appear to have exerted considerable editorial control over the
composition of some plates and to have imposed Victorian standards of delicacy
on others. South Australia Illustrated
is without question Angas's greatest and most accomplished work. His views of towns and scenery, of the
Aborigines and of the flora and fauna offer an outstanding - if romantic -
interpretation of the Australian landscape. It is a rare work, and one which
has always been held in the highest esteem.