Places

Date: 1844

From: [Various artists] :[Mrs Hobson's album. 1843-1845]

By: Mitford, John Guise, 1822-1854

Reference: E-216-f-043

Description: Auckland City from Mechanics Bay (now Stanley Street). The houses on the cliff in the middle distance mark the southern end of Official Bay. A flag flies on Point Britomart and on the higher ground to the left are St Paul's, the Barracks and the business enterprises at the top of Shortland Crescent. Government House lies in the sheltered hollow on the left. The complete spire on St Paul's suggests the painting was done after March 1844, the date of completion of the spire. The foreground is framed with tall flowering flax on the right and cabbage trees and other trees on the left. Quantity: 1 drawing(s). Physical Description: Ink and wash, 161 x 244 mm

Date: 1843 - 1844

By: Ashworth, Edward, 1814-1896; Hobson, Eliza Ann, 1811?-1876

Reference: A-275-007

Description: Auckland City from the hills behind the city, with a flax bush to the right and three Maori viewing the scene from the fern on the left. A stream in the middle ground (now the site of Queen Street) leads down to the town with Government House shown in the fenced area in the centre right and St Paul's Church silhouetted against Mt Victoria across the harbour. The cluster of buildings closest to the viewer at the lowest point in the valley is the Queen Street gaol, excavated in 1987 (see TL13/14/1 8/3/91). Rangitoto is shown in the background and there are several ships in the harbour. The scene is shown at sunset. Exhibited at 'The world was all before me; journals and watercolours of Edward Ashworth from the collections of Alexander Turnbull Library', Curator was Jill Trevelyan. The exhibition title is taken from Ashworth's journal where he misquotes from John Milton's poem "Paradise Lost": "The world was all before me / where to choose my place of rest". At the National Library Gallery, 27 April - 29 July 2001. A preliminary pencil drawing for this watercolour is held at A-208-018. The title of the watercolour is taken from the title of the pencil drawing, which shows St Paul's without its tower, although a tentative tower is lightly sketched in. The drawing would be likely to have been executed during 1843 and no later than January 1844, when Ashworth departed New Zealand for Hong Kong. The watercolour may have been completed while Ashworth was in New Zealand, with the putative tower added; or he may have worked from his pencil sketch at a slightly later date. Several of the sketches in the Hobson album were completed after Mrs Hobson left New Zealand in 1843. Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Pencil and watercolour 242 x 365 mm Provenance: The album was passed by Eliza Hobson to her daughter, Eliza, Lady Rendel. Transfers: Originally part of Mrs Hobson's album (E-216-f).. Processing information: One of several pages removed from the Hobson album for conservation reasons, 1990. This page was too large for the album and was becoming damaged around the edges. It was formerly located on p. 107 of the album.