Scandal, debts and tragedy dogged the man whose artwork helped put Illawarra on the map

Robert Marsh Westmacott’s “Woodlands cottage” was still standing strong in 1906 when it was being used as tourist accommodation, but was destroyed by fire in the 1920s.

But when the good ship Tartar and its Captain Rudge left NSW in 1851, it carried with it not only a tale about poor Bobby Westmacott but also a scandal relating to his wife, Louisa.

The marital scandal the Tartar carried with it, however, had a prelude that began precisely 20 years earlier.

Just one week prior to leaving England on 18 June 1831, Robert Marsh Westmacott (son of the famous sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott) married a reverend’s daughter, Louisa Marion Plummer, at St George’s Cathedral in London.

The couple sailed to Australia aboard the ship Margaret bound for Sydney.

They were part of the official newly appointed NSW Governor Sir Richard Bourke’s entourage which included the governor and Mrs Bourke, their children Anne and Richard, Captain Rudge and Mrs Westmacott.

The Margaret arrived at Sydney on 2 December 1831 and Robert Westmacott immediately played a prominent part in arranging the official welcoming ceremonies as part of his formal role as the governor’s aide-de-camp.

Because Governor Bourke was not at all averse to travel, Westmacott got to go with him and so was able to view quite a bit of NSW and Port Phillip.

The journeys took him to Twofold Bay and Eden (1835), the Southern Tablelands, Newcastle, Port Stephens, as far west as Bathurst and as far south as Port Phillip in 1837.

Westmacott’s wife, Louisa, was also no slouch when it came to travel and accompanied Governor Bourke and his daughter on a tour of the Hunter River in the vessel named the Sophia Jane in April 1833.

But in the Illawarra, Westmacott had got to see Cornelius O’Brien’s still rough but fabulously situated cottage on Bulli Point with its beautiful views to the north.

So, as soon as Governor Bourke left the colony in December 1837, Westmacott resigned his position and purchased O’Brien’s property and settled there with his wife.

Westmacott then acquired a further 1000 acres (404 ha) in the Illawarra, purchased the brig Trial and also became a major shareholder in the NSW Steam Navigation Company.

Superficially, things seemed to be going fine, particularly when Westmacott fortuitously discovered he now owned rich coal-bearing lands in northern Illawarra.

Unfortunately, Westmacott’s marriage to Louisa had become very strained. And, just as a major economic depression engulfed the colony of NSW, Westmacott also found it impossible to open the first coal mine in Illawarra – a venture that likely would have made him very rich.

What prevented the opening of the Illawarra’s first coal mine was that the Australian Agricultural Company had been given the sole right to mine coal in NSW and thus thwarted all his plans.

Mounting debts made Westmacott insolvent and, along with a lack of harmony with his wife (even though they had produced five Australian-born children by 1847) things went from bad to worse and Westmacott returned to England.

Yet by 1850, Westmacott was offered a lucrative job back in Australia.

Ironically it was as General Superintendent of the Australian Agricultural Company’s NSW operations centred on its Stroud, Tahlee and Port Stephens NSW property – the very company that had cruelled his coal mining plans at Bulli.

Momentarily, it seemed that Westmacott’s luck was turning – but it was not to be.

Within just a year of returning to NSW, Robert’s wife, Louisa, eloped with Captain Rudge of the Tartar, the same man who had captained the vessel which had brought the Westmacotts back to Australia.

Conveniently, in April 1851, the Tartar – although said to be bound for Madras – made a stop at Port Stephens and Captain Rudge whisked the willing Mrs Westmacott away.

Louisa’s elopement with a mere sea captain caused Westmacott such embarrassment that he resigned his superintendency position on 2 June 1851 and returned to England (with two daughters and one son) aboard the Mountstuart Elphinstone.

Misfortune again struck and, on arriving back in England, Westmacott learned that his 17-year-old son, Horatio, had died at Hastings where he had been sent for schooling.

Westmacott never set foot in Australia again but is still much celebrated by Illawarra art lovers like myself for being the artist who caused the first published image of our region to appear in 1838.

Unfortunately for Captain Westmacott, even his artwork did not sell well and the lithograph seen above is exceedingly rare – although a coloured version I once owned is now held by Wollongong Art Gallery.