Panel puts painter's 'snapshot' of past on show

Louise Joyce (left) and Maxine Williams (right) with the new panel,  which features the...
Louise Joyce (left) and Maxine Williams (right) with the new panel, which features the watercolour painting of Clyde. Photo by Liam Cavanagh
A heritage panel installed last week in Clyde features a rare watercolour depicting the town in its early gold-mining days.

The panel, part of Promote Dunstan's self-drive heritage trail promoting the area's history, has information about Clyde township, the dam and the area's gold-mining past.

The fourth in a series of 12, it depicts a painting of Sunderland St before 1864 when the town was known as Dunstan.

Called A Diggings Township, The Dunstan, Otago, it is thought to be painted by David Jnr. Powell.

Clyde resident and artist Maxine Williams, who designed the panels, said she found the painting when searching for images of Clyde online.

Promote Dunstan secretary Louise Joyce, who researched and wrote the panel, said it was an early snapshot and record of Clyde.

''Not a lot is known about it, but it's rare,'' she said.

A copy of the painting was given to the community group to use by The Fletcher Trust Collection, based in Auckland.

Its curator, Peter Shaw, said the painting had been in the collection long before he became curator.

Although the label attached to it suggested a resident of London who visited New Zealand as an artist or a participant of the Otago gold rush, it was possible the label might be that of a framer, Mr Shaw said.

''Not knowing about him [the artist], indicates probably a participant in the gold rush, who just happened to know how to paint watercolours.''

Many people were accomplished in watercolour because it was one way of recording history before photography was used, he said.

It was rare because there were not many images of the town during this time.

''It's a simple record and, as more time passes, [it] becomes more so.''

liam.cavanagh@odt.co.nz

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