An information panel is being proposed in Longford to help history buffs locate artist Tom Roberts grave, however the proposed panel is more than seven kilometres from his burial site.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Roberts was born in Dorchester, England in 1856 before he migrated to Australia with his family in 1869 and went on to become considered the father of Australian landscape painting.
The most important work of his career was a commissioned job to capture the Opening of the first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by HRH The Duke of Cornwall and York (Later HM King George V) May 9, 1901.
He finished the large scale painting in 1903, depicting more than 250 colonial and British dignitaries.
The development application proposes the sign be erected at 2A William Street at Christ Church to direct visitors about 7.7 kilometres away towards Illawarra Christ Church Burial Ground and Parsonage where Roberts is buried.
The proposed information panel will include a map directing visitors to his burial site and history on Roberts' life.
He married his second wife Jean Boyes at the Illawarra church before returning to Victoria but the pair would visit Tasmania each year.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Roberts arguably most widely recognised painting is his 1890 artwork Shearing the Rams. It depicts sheep shearers plying their trade in a timber shearing shed.
The painting was based on a number of preliminary sketches he completed at Brocklesby Station, Corowa in New South Wales in late 1888. He returned the follow two shearing season to work on the painting.
It is said Roberts set up his easel one day in the empty shed and paid the young Susan Bourne, the model for the tar 'boy', to kick up the dust so he could recapture the atmosphere of shearing time.
Locally Roberts was impressed by the state's landscape and used his oil paint to capture Under Ben Lomond, 1925-1927, depicting a spot near the national park area.
Upon his passing in 1931 in Victoria he was cremated and his ashes transported to Tasmania and interred in the Boyes' family plot near Longford.
The Illawara church, where Roberts is buried, was proposed to be sold by the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania in 2018 as part of the church's plan to fund its Redress Scheme before it was removed from the list.
The application is available for public comment at the Northern Midlands Council until February 3.
