This work is based on a watercolour sketch made by William Strutt of the opening of the First Legislative Council of Victoria, formed following Victoria’s separation from New South Wales in July 1851. Consisting of thirty members – twenty elected and the remainder the Lieutenant-Governor’s appointees – the inaugural Legislative Council met for the first time on 13 November 1851 at St Patrick’s Hall on Bourke Street, which remained the government’s home until the completion of Parliament House in March 1856. Depicted are all of the Council’s members including: Edward Henty (1810–1878), a pastoralist considered the Port Phillip district’s first settler; Supreme Court judge Sir Redmond Barry (1813–1880); Sir John O’Shanassy (1818–1883), Premier of Victoria in 1858–59 and 1861–1863; William Lonsdale (1799–1864), Port Phillip’s first police magistrate; Sir William Stawell (1815–1889), who was Victoria’s attorney-general from 1851 to 1857; and John Pascoe Fawkner (1792–1869), considered one of the founders of Melbourne. Also shown is Charles Joseph La Trobe (1801–1875), Superintendent and Lieutenant-Governor of the colony from 1839 to 1854.
Purchased 2013
The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the
Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a
Reproduction request. For further information please contact
NPG Copyright.
