James Shaw shows eye for the dramatic in capturing life in later 19th Century Adelaide and South Australia

James Shaw's scenes captured 19th Century dramas such as – Top left: The Adelaide steam flour mill fire in Mill Street (off Gouger Street), Adelaide, in 1855;. Bottom left: The Hackney bridge collapse over the River Torrens in 1864. Bottom right: The wreckeof the steamship Admella in 1859, His slices of life scene included (top right) the colonists ball commemorating the opening of Adelaide Town Hall in 1866.
Images courtesy Art Gallery of South Australia

James Shaw was all-round talent: engraver, lithographer, surveyor, lawyer – as well as a painter who captured many aspects of later 19th Century South Australia, including some of its more dramatic moments.

Born at Dumfries, Scotland, in 1815, with his father a clerk and proof reader who painted for pleasure, Shaw went to Edinburgh Royal High School and studied law at Edinburgh University.

In 1836, sponsored by Justice Thomas McCornock, he left Edinburgh for Jamaica as a bookkeeper. He painted in his free time, revealing his artistic talent. In 1841, he became a surveyor and began taking portrait commissions. In 1847, Shaw learned photography and became a photographer.

He married Janet Paterson on 1850 and they moved to Adelaide. In 1857, Shaw showed some paintings at the first exhibition of the South Australia Society of Arts, as a founding member. He received an honourable mention. He continued to paint and exhibit his works until 1871.

Shaw’s scenes around Adelaide had lasting historical interest, such as his 1867 panorama view of Adelaide from Montefiore Hill; the Smith homestead (1862), precursor of the Smithfield suburb; and Greenhill Road from the southeast corner of “Hazelwood” (1862).

An 1863 Shaw painting shows Logue’s Brewery in King William Street, Kent Town, opened by the grandfather of Lionel Logue of 20th Century King’s Speech fame.

Shaw also captured slices of life such as the South Australian House of Assembly in session in 1867 and the colonists ball commemorating the opening of Adelaide Town Hall in 1866. But he was also on the scene for dramas such as the Adelaide steam flour mill fire in Mill Street (off Gouger Street) in 1855 and the collapse of the South Australian Company's bridge, over the River Torrens at Hackney, in 1864.

Shaw also had his version of South Australia’s greatest colonial tragedy, the loss of the steamship Admella off the southeast coast in 1859, with 89 people (including 14 children) killed.