Frederic Bonney (1842–1921) was a British landowner and photographer. He took photographs at

Momba Station Momba Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station in New South Wales. The property is situated approximately south east of White Cliffs and north east of Wilcannia. History Momba Station on the Paroo River and the Darling ...

in New South Wales in the 1870s and he was known for these and his anthropology. He was born and died in

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

, Staffordshire.

Life

Bonney was the son of the Reverend Thomas Bonney, headmaster of Rugeley Grammar School. His brothers included Edward Smith Bonney and

Thomas George Bonney Thomas George Bonney (27 July 1833 – 10 December 1923) was an English geologist, president of the Geological Society of London. Career Bonney was born in Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, the eldest son of the Reverend Thomas Bonney, headma ...

, who was an academic geologist. He went to school at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

. His uncle,

Charles Bonney Charles Bonney (31 October 1813 – 15 March 1897) was a pioneer and politician in Australia. Early life Bonney was the youngest son of the Rev. George Bonney, a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and his wife Susanna, née Knight. He was born ...

, visited England from Australia in 1858 to 1862. Encouraged by his uncle, he and his brother, Edward, travelled to Australia. Aborgines at Momba 1870s

Edward went to Australia first and Frederic joined him in 1865 at

in New South Wales, near

Wilcannia Wilcannia is a small town located within the Central Darling Shire in north western New South Wales, Australia. Located on the Darling River, the town was the third largest inland port in the country during the river boat era of the mid-19th ce ...

. In the late 1860s Momba had an area of .

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

' son, Plorn, was sent by his father to Momba Station and he arrived a few days before his sixteenth birthday in 1868. He worked as a stockman at Momba until 1872. Bonney's occupation was as a grazier but his hobby was photography and anthropology. He took many pictures of the Paakantyi people who had traditionally lived along the

Paroo River The Paroo River, a series of waterholes, connected in wet weather as a running stream of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the South West region of Queensland and Far West region of New South Wales, Austr ...

. These people had been devastated by disease and the invasion by foreign immigrants. Bonney's attitude to these people was not as judgmental as many and he took natural pictures which recorded their lives. He was shocked by the racist views of others and he recorded his respect for the "loyalty and integrity" of the native Australians. Bonney's pictures have been published recently and in his time they were exhibited at the Melbourne Exhibition in 1880.Review of Book The People of the Paroo River
Martin Thomas, Australian National University, retrieved 24 June 2014 Bonney's pictures of Wonko Mary record a mourning tradition—Wonko Mary is shown with a "widow's cap" which she has made from gypsum (''kopi'') and water, and has moulded to her head. Edward became ill with terminal

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

and he returned home in 1879. Frederic had to tidy up their affairs but he also took the opportunity to complete his anthropological and photographic studies. Frederic sold Momba station and he returned to Staffordshire in 1881. He travelled back the long way and he visited

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

where he again took photographs during a month there. Frederic Bonney in Australia

Once he was back in his home county he bought Colton House in Rugeley. He established gardens and an

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, man ...

at his house. He continued to record local events using photography (many of these pictures are held in a collection at Colton House).Frederic Bonney
Colton History Society, retrieved 23 June 2014 He became chair of the parish council and bred show pigeons.Frederic Bonney
Luminous Lint, retrieved 20 June 2014 Bonney also volunteered to manage his local hospital and the village reading room.

Legacy

Bonney recorded some important images through his enthusiasm for photography. Some of his original images have been lost, but his work has been published in two books and they include photographs of the Paakantyi people. Unusually for his time, he wrote the people's names on the back of his photographs, and these can be cross-referenced to his notebooks. This information can reveal connections to Paakantyi families living today.

Photographs

Bonney's Australian photographs are held in the

State Library of NSW The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

(Mitchell Library) and the

Australian National Library The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

, and Colton House holds another collection. His collection of Australian artefacts were kept at his house in England and some of these later went into collections at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Manuscripts

Bonney's important manuscript notebooks, and a copy of his published article, 'On some customs of the Aborigines of the River Darling, New South Wales', were donated to the Mitchell Library in 1924. This paper is still cited. A book, ''People of the Paroo'', by Jeannette Hope and Robert Lindsay, has been published, containing all Bonney's surviving Australian pictures. Some of these have only recently been identified.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonney, Frederic 1842 births 1921 deaths British landowners Photographers from Staffordshire People from Rugeley