The earliest pictures of life on Lord Howe Island were recently uncovered and provide a fascinating glimpse of the early settlement. The pictures were found while searching for reports on the Island to the NSW Colonial administrators who were considering Lord Howe as a possible solution to its overcrowded penal settlements.

By the 1830’s there was serious overcrowding in the NSW and Tasmanian gaols and thoughts turned to Lord Howe Island which was, after all, halfway to that other notorious penal settlement, Norfolk Island. Visiting officials were asked to report on its resources and suitability for this purpose. It was while searching for detail of these reports that the images were uncovered, referenced in a text held by the Lord Howe Island Museum about a naval surveying expedition.

The pictures are a series of sketches and paintings of Island scenery, flora and fauna, and were made by Irish artist, James Glen Wilson, in the 1850’s.

Glen Wilson was the official artist on the British Royal Navy’s survey vessel, HMS Herald. Glen Wilson’s job was to draw coastal profiles for the maritime charts produced by the Herald’s commander, Captain Henry Mangles Denham. For his artworks he was paid an extra two shillings a day. His collected works are held by the British Admiralty’s Hydrographic Office and the Denham family in the UK. Recently, a selection of around 80 of the works were digitised by the National Library of Australia and 20 of these relate directly to Lord Howe Island.

The role of artists in ship’s companies was recognised as pivotal after Cook’s voyages. They were trained to make accurate visual records of coastal landscapes and elevations to help sailors identify a landfall. Their depictions of landscapes, plants and animals could also help identify potential colonies and promote new markets and products.

The commander of the Herald, Captain Henry Mangles Denham, was tasked with producing detailed, accurate maritime charts for areas in the south-west Pacific, including Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. Earlier charts had often missed maritime dangers such as hidden rocks, reefs and shoals.

The Herald arrived in Sydney in February, 1853. Lord Howe Island was one of the Herald’s first surveying destinations. It arrived with its sister ship, the Torch (a schooner rigged paddle steamer), on 29 April, 1953. By this time the Island had been settled on and off for around 20 years. Denham reported sixteen people living on the Island.

Captain Denham spent two months at the Island on his first visit, making detailed observations, taking soundings, mapping the coastline and topography. A survey of Balls Pyramid was also included.

So detailed and accurate was Denham’s 1863 chart of Lord Howe, that it formed the base of all later maritime charts for the Island for the next 100 years.

The Herald anchored off the eastern side of the Island, near Middle Beach. It was here that Glen Wilson drew the wonderful coastal panoramas of Lord Howe and Balls Pyramid shown at the base of Denham’s chart. The chart also noted the location of the three Island farms (Andrew’s, Mosley’s and Wright’s) on the western side of the Island.

Glen Wilson produced pen and ink sketches of the houses on the Island, providing the first pictorial evidence of the people and dwellings of Lord Howe. One of these, Scenery of Lord Howe Island [above] is probably of Wright’s farm, in the south near Salmon Beach. Mt Lidgbird and Mt Gower are clearly visible in the background. The sketch is thought to be a faithful reproduction of the thatched cottages, palms and pandanus surrounding the fenced enclosure.

Not much is known about Glen Wilson’s early life, but he is thought to have been born in County Down in Northern Ireland in 1824. He grew up on his family’s small farm in the village of Glastry.

Details of his early career and training are also sparse, but he was painting rural and Belfast Harbour scenes by the 1840’s. His oil painting, Emigrant Ship Leaving Belfast, was painted just before he joined the Herald expedition and is recognised as one of his finest paintings. It shows Glen Wilson was much more than a documentary draughtsman and expedition artist.

When the Herald’s coastal survey work was completed, Glen Wilson remained in Australia to work as a Surveyor near Kiama and later, Orange in NSW. He married Margaret Bennet Moore, the daughter of a hotel owner in 1859. He died on 6th August, 1863, aged thirty-nine, from severe stomach ailments including dysentery and rheumatic fever.

During his seven years on the Herald, Glen Wilson produced some 300 pictures, drawing the daily life of the sea, documenting the natural world and the lifestyles and practices of the people of the Pacific. These included the HMS Herald and Torch at work surveying.

These evocative pictures of Lord Howe Island are important because they provide a detailed and accurate pictorial record of the Island’s geography, settlement, plants and animals from 170 years ago. They are the earliest depiction of Island life in existence. 

This article appeared in The Lord Howe Island Signal, 31 May 2023.