Timboo and Ellen, with Ellen’s dog. Geelong, 1863-64.

Albumen print photograph, carte de visite format, 99 x 62 mm (mount); verso with the back mark of ‘R. Taylor, Photographer, 16 Gt. Ryrie Street, Geelong’, and a fully contemporary inscription in pencil, ‘Timboon [sic] & Ellen’, which is written twice in the same hand (the second time with a superior pencil); the print is a little pale but in very good condition, as is the mount.

Having survived the first quarter-century of European colonisation, a number of Wadawurrung adults passed away in the 1860s. Among them were Ellen White (née Gore), who died in 1864, and Timboo, who died in 1866. Prior to Ellen’s death, she and Timboo – along with Ellen’s dog – were photographed by Richard Taylor in his Geelong studio, which featured a large painted backdrop depicting bush scenery. No doubt believing it would add a further layer of “authenticity” to his portrait of Timboo and Ellen, Taylor included a rather bizarre studio prop – a taxidermied wallaby – placing it in the composition in such a way that it snuggles against the left arm of Timboo, who looks decidedly unimpressed. Timboo and Ellen are buried in a common grave in Geelong’s Western Cemetery, along with Dan Dan Nook (King Jerry), Willem Baa Nip (King Billy) and several other of their Wadawurrung contemporaries.

Provenance: From an album compiled by Harry Hugh Thrupp (1820-1886) of Geelong. (Thrupp’s ownership inscription at the front of the album is included in the accompanying images). H. H. Thrupp was a Tasmanian-born commission agent who seems to have settled in Port Phillip at least as early as 1853.