Government escort and mail at the Treasury, Sydney, 1851

Educational value

• This asset illustrates the arrival of gold from some of the first gold fields in Australia - in February 1851 Edward Hargraves discovered gold at Summerhill Creek in the Bathurst district; soon after, diggings were established in Ophir, Sofala and Turon, followed, in the same year, by Araluen, Majors Creek and Bell's Creek near Braidwood in southern New South Wales and by diggings around Clunes, Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria.
• It shows how a mail coach that carried gold was protected, with police sitting next to the coach driver and in the open compartment in the rear, and mounted police behind - until 1862, New South Wales police were recruited into independent units such as the Mounted Police, but later, after bushrangers began holding up coaches carrying gold, the Gold Escort police unit was formed.
• It indicates the interest of bystanders in the drama of the police escort and the unloading of the gold chests - people outside Australia were also interested in scenes such as this, for this drawing formed the basis of an etching subsequently published in the 'London Illustrated News'.
• It depicts architecture of Sydney in the 1850s - the Ionic-columned facade of the neoclassical-style Treasury building, a regency-style church and, in the background, a two-storey building, probably Petty's Family Hotel, are all visible.
• It shows some of the fashions of the early- to mid-Victorian period, with women in poke bonnets and shawls and men in top hats - most of the men, including the police, are heavily bearded.
• It provides an example of the pen-and-wash work of artist Marshall Claxton (1811-1881) - Claxton was born in Lancashire, England, trained at the Royal Academy, exhibited portraits and landscapes in London, worked in Italy, and came to Sydney in 1850 with a collection of his works for sale; he produced portraits and landscapes in Sydney, including 'General view of the harbour and city of Sydney', now in the British Royal Collection, but did not sell his collection in the colony so sailed with it to Calcutta, India in 1854; in 1857-58 he returned to England, where he died in 1881.

Year level

5

Topics Postal services Australian history Colonies