John Baxter Mather (5 March 1853 – 7 November 1940) was a Scottish born journalist, newspaper proprietor, landscape painter and art critic in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
.
History
Mather was born in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, Scotland to Thomas S. Mather (c. 1824 – 20 June 1865) and Jessie Mather (c. 1826 – 20 October 1901), and emigrated with his parents to Australia around 1860, settling first in
Portland, Victoria
Portland is a city in Victoria, Australia, and is the oldest European settlement in the state. It is also the main urban centre in the Shire of Glenelg and is located on Portland Bay. As of the 2021 census the population was 10,016, increasin ...
.
[ This belated obituary is more complete and accurate than that of the ''Advertiser'' of 8 November 1940] Around 1864 they moved to
Mount Gambier, South Australia
Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier (volcano), Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about sou ...
, where after completing his schooling he started working as a
compositor for A. F. Laurie and John Watson's
Border Watch
''Border Watch'' is an adventure module for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, set in the game's World of Greyhawk campaign setting.
Plot summary
The adventure takes place on the border between the Kingdom of Furyondy and ...
.
In 1874 he left Mount Gambier for a time to work as compositor for Lawrie and Fairfax at the
Portland Guardian
''The Portland Guardian'' was a weekly newspaper published between 1842 and 1964 in the seaport town of Portland, Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British C ...
where
J. F. Archibald was an apprentice. After some initial sparring, the two became friends.
In 1875, he started work at
Naracoorte, South Australia
Naracoorte is a town in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, approximately 336 kilometres south-east of Adelaide and 100 kilometres north of Mount Gambier on the Riddoch Highway (A66).
History
Before the colonisation of South Australi ...
for the ''Border Watch'', running its daughter publication, the
Narracoorte Herald
''The Naracoorte Herald'' is a weekly newspaper first published in Naracoorte, South Australia on 14 December 1875. It was later sold to Rural Press, previously owned by Fairfax Media, but now an Australian media company trading as Australian Commu ...
, which shortly afterwards he and
George Ash acquired. In 1889 they were sued for libel by a wealthy
squatter and lost everything they had.
A great deal of sympathy was evinced locally for the pair.
He moved to
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
and found employment with
The Advertiser as a compositor, then joined their literary staff as an art critic, a post he filled for fifteen years. From 1893 to 1899, he contributed drawings to the Adelaide ''Express'', using the chalk plate method, at which he was particularly adept.
[
]
He was at the forefront of process engraving technology; the first in South Australia to do colored monotypes.
[ In 1900 he and Joseph Hanka founded Mather & Hanka's Excelsior Engraving Company of 4 ]Franklin Street, Adelaide
Franklin Street is a main street in the centre of Adelaide, South Australia.
Extent
Franklin Street terminates at its western end at West Terrace. The eastern end merges into the northern edge of Victoria Square and continues across King Wi ...
, etching chalk plates (a fore-runner of the process plate) then making half-tone
Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect.Campbell, Alastair. The Designer's Lexicon. ©2000 Chronicle, ...
plates for printers, including ''The Advertiser''. A year later the company was run by Mather and George Mackie By November 1903 the company was known simply as J. B. Mather, Photo-engraver, and ceased operation in late 1910. In 1913 he was employed by the Art Gallery of South Australia, revising the catalogue which H. P. Gill completed in 1903.
Other interests
He enjoyed writing humorous verse, and contributed occasionally to ''The Advertiser'', and frequently to the magazine ''Quiz'' and its successor ''Quiz and The Lantern''. A few are listed here:
*''Township v. City Life''
*''The Decayed Township''
*''The Old woman (Turgenieff done into Verse)''
His published books include:
*''Out of the Depths: based on passages in "De Profundis"'', Advertiser printers 1908.
*''In Memoriam J. M.'', Hassell Press, Adelaide 1927
*''Heine's North Sea'', Advertiser printers, illustrated, 1933
*''A Metrical Version of Ivan Turgenieff's Poems in Prose'', Advertiser printers, illustrated, 1934
*''My Queen Elect and other Verses'' Advertiser printers, 1937
*''The Voyagers and other Verses'', Advertiser printers, 1938[
]
He was also a landscape painter of some distinction, in watercolors, and a member of the Adelaide Easel Club. He was elected an associate of the South Australian Society of Arts
The South Australian Society of Arts was a society for artists in South Australia, later with a royal warrant renamed The Royal South Australian Society of Arts in 1935.
History
A meeting of persons interested in the formation of a society for the ...
.[
]
Family
He had two brothers: Alexander Henderson Mather (c. 1861 – 13 June 1942) of Mount Gambier, and George R. J. Mather of Naracoorte. A sister, Margaret married Omar Arthur of Mount Gambier on 17 November 1875. Another sister married J. J. Driscoll of Mount Gambier.
He married Johanna Fraser (c. 1853 – 26 June 1921) in 1880; they lived at 38 Myrtle Street, Prospect, where he died.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mather, John Baxter
1853 births
1940 deaths
Australian journalists
Australian newspaper proprietors
Australian landscape painters
Australian art critics
Australian printers
Australian poets
19th-century Australian painters
19th-century Australian male artists
20th-century Australian painters
20th-century Australian male artists
Scottish male painters
Australian male painters