A collection of three ink on paper lithographic prints produced in London by the firm of M. and N. Hanhart from sketches of scenes in Eden, Twofold by Elizabeth Hudspeth. Elizabeth completed the drawings while visiting her good friend Mary Braidwood Mowle, wife of the then Twofold Bay Customs Officer Stewart Mowle, in 1854.

 

They depict the Customs House, Eden, Twofold Bay, Australia; Eden, Twofold Bay; and Boyd Town, Twofold Bay, Australia. The views of the Customs House and Boydtown have the artist and lithographer details to lower left and right respectively below the lithographs.

 

Elizabeth had met the then Mary Braidwood Wilson, a sixteen year old orphan who had come from New South Wales to Tasmania after her father had committed suicide. After Mary took up residence with her uncle, George Wilson, at his Mount Seymour property near Oatlands, the two young ladies would undoubtedly have relished having a close female neighbour. The pair quickly formed a firm friendship and much of what is now known about Elizabeth today comes from Mary’s diaries and their shared correspondence.

 

Elizabeth stood as Mary’s bridesmaid when she married Stewart Mowle at the Oatlands home of Dr. Frederick John Park and his wife in May 1845. The newly-weds returned to New South Wales the same month and despite the distance, the two friends kept up a steady communication, keeping each other apprised of the happenings in their respective lives.

 

In January 1851, Mary wrote that she had “Heard from…my dear friend Elizabeth Hudspeth…Elizabeth’s letter is as usual a delightful production…” and in June 1853, while visiting Tasmania, that she was “Greatly delighted this morning by a visit from dear Elizabeth Hudspeth accompanied by her brother and Miss Pike. We were both overjoyed to meet again after such a long absence…”

 

When Elizabeth decided to join her family in England, she spent five weeks at the beginning of 1854 making a farewell visit to Mary at Twofold Bay. This would be the last time the friends would see each other.

 

After arriving in England, Elizabeth recorded her experiences in a series of journal letters to Mary, transporting her friend through her words from the drudgery of her isolated life at Twofold Bay. In February 1855, Mary noted in her own diary “Reading Elizabeth’s journal yesterday and today – it is really a beautifully written and interesting production…” She received two more journals from Elizabeth covering the period from mid-September-1854 to mid-December 1854; and 4 February 1855 to 2 March 1855.

 

During the time she had spent in Eden with Mary, Elizabeth had drawn a number of scenes of the Eden area, three of which were made into lithographic prints in London. Copies of these still survive in various public collections through to the present day (2019), including that of the local Eden Killer Whale Museum.

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