Victorian gold
The gold rush and its impact on cultural life

Born England 1796, active Australia 1852–59, died England 1864

George Rowe was regarded as one of the most prolific topographical printmakers in England when he was commissioned by the British Government to complete watercolour drawings of the Victorian gold-fields.

He arrived in Melbourne in October 1852 and soon departed for the Forrest Creek, Castlemaine diggings, where he and his son dug for gold with minimal success. (There is no further reference to the British commission that Rowe travelled to Australia to complete.)

Rowe was then involved in a variety of activities on the gold-fields including selling goods to diggers, painting sketches of the fields, designing flags for diggers’ tents as well as buying and selling gold.

Fifty of his watercolours depicting the Castlemaine and Bendigo fields were exhibited in an art union held in Bendigo in 1857. Four hundred and twenty subscribers paid £1 for the chance of winning a work.

Rowe is best known for his panoramic views of the Victorian gold-fields and the City of Melbourne.

He remained in Victoria for seven years, returning to England in 1859.