Weld, Frederick Aloysius 1823-1891 :Brackenfield N Z Nov 1862 / F A W

Shows Weld's third New Zealand home "Brackenfield" near Amberley with his wife and two oldest children in the foreground. A horse is beside Mrs Weld and the two children. The house and garden look newly established with clumps of cabbage trees and flaxes in flower and flower gardens closer to the house. There is a conservatory to the right of the house and another building, probably a barn, to the far right. To the left of the house is a small chapel.

The Welds married in March 1859, so the two children, two-and-a half years later are likely to be the two oldest.

Weld purchased the initial 304 acres of land for Brackenfield in July 1861. The 16-room kauri house, its timber shipped from Auckland, was demolished in 1964. Weld also laid out the park-like grounds and imported English deer and game birds. The chapel, one of the first Catholic churches in Canterbury, was moved from the Brackenfield entrance in the 1950s to the main road through Amberley

Other Titles - Amberley

Inscriptions: Recto - bottom right - Brackenfield N Z F.A.W. Nov 1862

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Pencil and watercolour 248 x 358 mm

Provenance: Purchased by Don Cornes in Melbourne from Julian Sterling, owner of Southern Cross Gallery, Exhibition Street, ca 1973. Brought to New Zealand. (Information from Don Cornes, personal communication 19 April 1995). Purchased at Dunbar Sloane's, Wellington, by Dr Neville Hogg for $1400 in 1977.