Frederic Bonney (1842–1921) was a British landowner and photographer. He took photographs at Momba Station 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, nor ...

, 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, who was an academic geologist. He went to school at Marlborough College. 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 Momba Station in New South Wales, near Wilcannia. 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 er ...

' 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 The Paakantyi, or Barkindji or Barkandji, are an Australian Aboriginal tribal group of the Darling River (known to them as the Baaka) basin in Far West New South Wales, Australia. Name The ethnonym Paakantyi means "River people", formed fr ...

people who had traditionally lived along the Paroo River. 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, a ...

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 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 (Mitchell Library) and the Australian National Library, 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 Jeannette Hope is an Australian archaeologist who has worked extensively in Western New South Wales. She is a former editor and executive of the journal of the Australian Archaeological Association, and has published extensively on that region a ...

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