Please consider being a sponsor to assist in the purchase and restoration of a significant item of furniture linked to Anglo-Indian immigration into Tasmania, the Castra Scheme and the settlement of the district. Most such items have long left the district and it is important that at least one such piece should be held at our local museum for all to appreciate. The opportunity to ensure that this item is secured in a public collection has been made possible by the generous gesture of Mr Tony Johnson. The piece was formerly owned by Sir Reginald Charles Wright (1905-1990), and may have accompanied such Anglo-Indian immigrants as Major-General Charles Thomas Heathcote C.B. Heathcote died at his residence at Leith in 1889 and is buried in the All Saints (Pioneer) cemetery, Leith.
The target amount to fund the acquisition & restoration of this piece is $1500
Sponsorship will be acknowledged through this page, with or without (at request) the donor’s name, and amount of sponsorship. Send me a private message if you wish to be a sponsor.
Back-story:
The Castra Scheme.
From the early years of settlement, Tasmania became well known in India through trade contacts and military officers who had served in Tasmania.
By the 1820s Tasmania had become well-known in India as a place for the recovery of health and also for investment opportunities. Even though it was a failure, interest was excited in 1824 by the first Anglo-Indian scheme, the Indiana Institution, a proposed sanctuary for Englishmen with Indian wives and their descendants. Books were published espousing the virtues of the island attracted both visitors and investors in property, many such properties managed in absentia by agents. The first Anglo-Indian to settle in Tasmania was RW Loane in 1809. He was followed by many others, including Edward Dumaresq, Charles Swanston and Michael Fenton.
In 1865 Lt-Colonel Andrew Crawford initiated a scheme for land settlement at Castra in Tasmania’s north-west. Fifty Anglo-Indians, including many officers, purchased land, but few stayed. However, with expansion of agriculture on the north-west coast from the 1870s, many other Anglo-Indian families settled in the area.
Anglo-Indians and their descendants have enriched their local communities and the state as a whole. Andrew Crawford, Edward Braddon, Arthur Young, HA Dumbleton and CJ Mackenzie all held parliamentary seats, and Braddon became premier.
Other prominent names associated with the Castra Scheme & Anglo-Indian settlement include Shaw, Lodder, Stockley, Green, Fulton, Scott, English, Mead, Coningham, Bedford, Browne, Warner, Wilson, Sage, Reid, Tomes, Waller & Heathcote.
The Ulverstone Museum is fortunate to have an excellent representative collection of memorabilia associated with Anglo-Indian settlement in the district. This piece is an excellent example of the hand-carved furniture items which accompanied many of the new settlers upon immigration.
About the piece:
A mid-19th century Anglo-Indian rosewood demi-lune side table, the border to the top and the apron is extensively carved with foliage, birds and animals, the back carved with conforming plants and flowers, raised on four substantial legs with stretcher base, all carved with matching motifs. The shoulder of the legs are decorated with lion-head motifs
This type of carving, along with the fact most of the furniture was made from indigenous Indian hardwoods such as rosewood, ebony, teakwood, mahogany and satinwood, resulted in a very distinctive style using elaborate floral and foliate designs. Many pieces were richly decorated with different types of vegetation from the natural world. Much more ornate than the carving associated with traditional European designs.The overall design and execution is a mixture of Western form and Indian craftsmanship. Indian-Colonial furniture of this type is elegant and of high quality. It is a different and unique style of furniture which is greatly sought after and collected all over the world.
