Detail view

Death of Captain Fraser 1948

Title
Death of Captain Fraser 1948
Description
Inscr.'1948'
Description
Nolan's Mrs Fraser paintings are based on the true story and subsequent legend of a woman who was cast up on a Barrier reef island when the 'Stirling Castle' was wrecked in 1936. Mrs Fraser was the wife of the captain of the 350-ton brig. After the 'Stirling Castle' went down the Frasers were captured by Aborigines. Five weeks later Captain Fraser was killed by a spear thrown by a native. The Mrs Fraser series of 1947-48 was preceded by Nolan's lengthy survey of sources of the legend in the Oxley Library, Brisbane, and two visits to Fraser Island.
Description
Three of the principle sources he used were- 'The Wreck of the Stirling Castle,' by John Curtis (London 1838), 'The Genesis of Queensland', by Henry Stuart Russell (Turner and Henderson, 1888) and 'John Graham- Convict,' by Robert Gibbings (J.M. Dent and Sons, London 1937)In his book Gibbings restates Mrs Fraser's own narrative of the events that followed her capture- 'We were now portioned off to different masters, who employed us carrying wood, water and bark, and treated us with the greatest cruelty - which (with the exception of a small portion of fish which we seldom got) all we had to subsist upon was a kind of Fern Root which we were obliged to procure ourselves in the swamps. In consequence of these hardships my husband soon became much weakened as to be totally incapable of doing the work that was required of him, and being one occasion unable through debility to carry a large log of wood one of the natives threw a spear at him which entered his shoulder a little below the shoulder blade bone. Of this wound he never recovered, and being soon after seized with a spitting of blood he gradually pined away until his death - which took place eight or nine days afterwards. During this time whilst he was laying on the ground incapable of moving. I was always prevented from approaching him or rendering him any assistance - when he died they dragged him away by the legs and buried him (p 76 f. 1956 editon)
Creator
Nolan, Sidney
Subject
Fraser Island
Subject
Stirling Castle
Subject
Captain Fraser
Subject
Eliza Fraser
Subject
ship wrecks
Subject
Aboriginal peoples (Australians)
Format
text/html
Format
image/jpeg
Format
Ripolin on board 91.2 x 122.4 cm
Managed by
IsFormatOf item held at the Nolan Gallery
Collection or series
IsPartOf the Nolan Gallery's Foundation Collection
Trail
Murder and Mayhem trail
Date or place
1948
Rights
Reproduction rights owned by the Nolan Gallery.
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