Sir John O’Shanassy, Premier of Victoria
William Strutt1860
State Library Victoria
Melbourne, Australia
Sir John O'Shanassy (1818–1883) arrived in the Port Phillip District from Ireland in 1839. He briefly served on the fledgling council of the City of Melbourne in 1846, before being appointed to the Legislative Council after the separation of the Port Phillip District from New South Wales in 1851.
O'Shanassy was appointed a commissioner to the inquiry into the goldfields on the eve of the Eureka rebellion in November 1854, and spoke for law and order on both sides. His subsequent tour of inspection, accompanied by fellow commissioners, resulted in a report vindicating the miners' stance over their grievances.
O'Shanassy's calm commonsense was considered an asset to his political ambitions and he served as Premier on three occasions between April 1857 and June 1863. O'Shanassy was also a Trustee of the then Melbourne Public Library and the founder of the St Patrick's Society in 1845. In 1859 the society's committee, in a gesture of appreciation, commissioned this portrait.
- Title: Sir John O’Shanassy, Premier of Victoria
- Creator: William Strutt, 1825-1916
- Date: 1860
- Rights: This work is out of copyright. No copyright restrictions apply.
- lithograph: Painting
- View more information about this image in the State Library Victoria catalogue: http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/MAIN:SLV_VOYAGER1786006
- View a full-size version of this image: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/248333
- Physical dimensions: 290.0 x 181.0 cm. in frame 326.0 cm. x 217.0 cm.
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- A.E. Ferris: The son and grandson of artists, William Strutt was born in Teignmouth, Devon. He studied in Paris in the atelier of Michel-Martin Drölling and at the École des Beaux Arts, and immigrated to Australia in 1850 due to poor health. Strutt was employed in Melbourne by the Ham brothers and produced engravings for the Illustrated ‘Australian Magazine’. John Pascoe Fawkner was a patron, and Strutt painted a number of oil portraits of notable Victorians, as well as miniature watercolour portraits of Aborigines, police and bushrangers. Together with Eugene von Guérard, Ludwig Becker, Nicholas Chevalier and James Smith, Strutt revived the Victorian Society of Fine Arts. His final works in Australia were sketches of the preparations of the Burke and Wills expedition. In 1862 Strutt returned to England. Over the next 30 years he regularly exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy, and he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1891.
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