Travels with Charles Travers Mackin

Travels with Charles Travers Mackin dealt primarily with Dr Charles Travers Mackin as a painter of picturesque watercolour views of early Geelong and its district, of the Ballarat goldfields, and of various other topographical studies, all of which amount to a rare and engaging record of aspects of Victorian colonial life in the 1850s and 1860s.

With the discovery of gold in the 1850s, thousands of immigrants rushed to Australia's shores. One such man was Dr Mackin, who left his London practice to join the thousands who laboured on Australia's goldfields. A talented amateur, Mackin joined artists such as Ludwig Becker, ST Gill and Eugene von Guerard in capturing the scenes that assailed their eyes on a daily basis.

Once the heyday of the gold rushes had run its course, Dr Mackin moved to Geelong. During his leisure hours, he sketched local scenery and dwellings of Geelong and its region. Mackin was a prolific artist, but only a small number of his artworks are known to have survived. These drawings, watercolours and memorabilia provide rare glimpses of the life of one nineteenth-century gentleman and his contribution to the community of Geelong through his commitment to both his profession and his art.

Travels with Charles Travers Mackin, was part of Geelong Gallery's series of exhibitions held by the that featured the works of little-known colonial artists of Geelong and Victoria’s Western District.