The Main Street of Mount Britton 1882

Description

Limited Edition of 150 Reproductions each of 5 sizes, 750 in total Only

A gold rush along Oakey Creek below the Diamond Cliffs in 1881 soon resulted in a township of bark and sapling buildings. A little later more substantial buildings were erected such as the “School of Arts” on the left of the painting which was completed in September 1882, and had a hardwood frame and flooring, bark and sapling roof, side and end walls. It was used for public meetings, concerts and a school, until a separate school building was constructed sometime later.

Of the six hotels in Mount Britton at this time, all were mostly bark and sapling structures, except for Alexander Smith’s “Mount Britton Hotel” on the right of the painting, which had hardwood frame and flooring, and flat iron roof and corrugated iron walls. Between this hotel and the Leo Hotel further up the street is a vacant block opposite the Mills’ house which by December of 1883 supported a sturdy hardwood weatherboard “Post and Telegraph Office”.

This building was later transported to Nebo and is still in use as a private residence. Beyond the horseman leading his packhorse is Henry Mills, wearing a pith helmet, smoking his pipe and talking to a neighbour outside his home, while his wife Polly, looks on from the doorway. Further down the street is “Gibson’s Store” on the corner. Gibson himself is delivering a crate of freshly baked bread to the “Mount Britton Hotel” and is waylaid by another man outside the hotel and they are engrossed in conversation.

In this painting there is quite a bit of community interaction. What are they discussing? Perhaps the latest community meeting regarding the state of the road to the mines; perhaps the success of the recent quartz crushing by Finch Hatton’s “Sabbath Calm Battery” and the resulting gold escorts of 1000oz and 700 oz of pure gold to Mackay; perhaps the numerous happenings and mishaps up in the reef mines or even the latest community concert in the new town hall.

This is one of twelve paintings from THE MOUNT BRITTON COLLECTION depicting people and places or events around the pioneering gold-mining town of Mount Britton, near Nebo, which is 100km west of Mackay in Queensland.