William Macleod was a pioneering figure in Australian art during the late nineteenth century. Born in England, he emigrated to Australia with his parents, who were drawn by the promise of riches during Victoria’s Gold Rush. Following his father’s death shortly after their arrival, Macleod was compelled to find work at just twelve years of age.

He found employment as a photographer’s assistant while pursuing his artistic education in his spare time. His talent soon translated into commissions for paintings and stained-glass works, enabling him to support himself and purchase a home for his mother at just seventeen, helping her escape a difficult marriage.

Macleod’s hand-coloured engraving Wool Barge on the Darling, created circa 1886, captures a defining chapter in Australia’s economic development. The vessel Hero carries its valuable cargo of wool upstream, a plume of smoke rising behind it as the crew surveys the passing landscape. The scene brings together the people, waterways and emerging industrial technologies that underpinned the expansion of Australia’s pastoral economy.

The vessel’s name, Hero, lends an apt note to this portrayal of enterprise and labour. Wool was central to Australia’s nineteenth-century prosperity, and the engraving offers a visual record of the industry and the working lives that sustained it.

An original nineteenth-century print with both historical and cultural interest, Wool Barge on the Darling will appeal to collectors drawn to Australia’s industrial and agricultural heritage, and to the ways artists documented a nation in the making.

William MACLEOD
'Wool Barge on the Darling' 1886
original engraving
Image Size: 7 x 22 cm
Dimensions: 26 x 41 x 2 cm
Comes with Letter of Provenance
Condition:Very Good: Describes a work of art's image as Excellent, but may show some small signs of surrounding wear to paper or frame. There are no tears to paper margin or disruption to the paint surface.
(c) The Artist or Assignee