William Austin Horn (1841–1922) was an Australian mining magnate, pastoralist, politician, author, sculptor and philanthropist. Somewhat eccentric, in 1892 he was the donor of a copy of

Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...

's Venus,

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 ...

's then controversial first public statue, which is still on display on

North Terrace, Adelaide North Terrace is one of the four terraces that bound the central business and residential district of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It runs east–west, along the northern edge of "the square mile". The western end cont ...

. Horn also built

Wairoa, Aldgate Wairoa is a heritage-listed home and garden located in the Adelaide Hills situated at 160 Mount Barker Road between Aldgate and Stirling in South Australia. It was for over three decades the home of Marbury School. History The property was p ...

, known for its magnificent gardens and captured in a watercolour by William Tibbits.

Family

Horn was born 26 February 1841 at Menaroo (an old name for the Monaro district),

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, to Edward Kirk Horn, a storekeeper, and his wife Emily, née Austin. The family moved to South Australia in 1852, where Horn was educated at the Collegiate School of St Peter. On 24 September 1879 in St Andrews Church, Walkerville, he married Penelope Elizabeth Belt; they had two daughters and six sons. In 1896 he sold Wairoa and relinquished all of his official positions in Adelaide. From 1898 he lived at

Wimbledon Park Wimbledon Park is the name of an urban park in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon and also of the suburb south and east of the park and the Wimbledon Park tube station. The park itself is in area. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is immedi ...

House in England. He returned briefly to Adelaide in 1901, and in 1907 to sell his Walkerville house, Holmwood. He held that "an Australian is simply an Englishman born in the sun". He died on 23 December 1922 in London.

Mining interests

Copper deposits had earlier been discovered in the Yorke Peninsula region at Wallaroo, and a further discovery was made nearby in 1861 on the property of pastoralist

Walter Watson Hughes Sir Walter Watson Hughes (22 August 1803 – 1 January 1887),Dirk Van Dissel,Hughes, Sir Walter Watson (1803 - 1887), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 440-441. Retrieved 11 August 2009 who before his knighthood wa ...

. On learning that news of the discovery had been leaked to another party, Hughes dispatched the young William Horn on a 22-hour horse ride to successfully register the claim in Adelaide. This claim became the prosperous

Wheal Hughes Wheal Hughes was a copper mine in the 19th century, but is now a tourist attraction at Cross Roads, South Australia, Cross Roads, near Moonta, South Australia, Moonta, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. The mine is named after Walter Watson Hughe ...

, at Moonta.

Politician

Horn was the member for

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...

in the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

from 1887 until 1893.

Philanthropy

In 1890 he gave the National Gallery of South Australia the famous Heinrich Heuzenroeder collection of coins, comprising 11,000 specimens, some of which were Roman. He equipped and sponsored the Horn Scientific Expedition of 1894, the first primarily scientific expedition to study the natural history of Central Australia. He donated three statues to Adelaide: 'Venus by Canova' on North Terrace; the Farnese 'Hercules' in Pennington Garden west; and 'The Athlete' in Angas Gardens.

Statue: Venere Di Canova

Venus by Canova was donated by Horn in 1892. Somewhat controversial at the time of its unveiling in 1892, this piece was the first of Adelaide's street statues.Historical trail, Adelaide
page 8. It is a copy in Carrara marble of the statue of Venus by

– the original is at the

Pitti Palace The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the present ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. (

Photo A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now created ...

of the original.) – Pedestal of Sicilian and Kapunda marble. Executed by Fraser & Draysey. Presented by Mr W A Horn. Unveiled 3 September 1892, by His Worship the Mayor (F.W. Bullock, Esq.).Venus
Statues of the City of Adelaide, Adelaide City Council. File:J150W-statue-VenereDiCanova-in-situ.jpg, Looking west File:J150W-statue-VenereDiCanova.jpg, Statue File:J150W-statue-VenereDiCanova-text.jpg, Base

Author

Horn published two books: ''Bush Echoes'' (1901), a book of verse of the stockwhip-and-saddle-school; and ''Notes by a Nomad'' (1906).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horn, William 1841 births 1922 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Australian writers Australian philanthropists 20th-century Australian sculptors 19th-century sculptors