Gael Newton AM
This delicate portrait of Quaker sisters Esther Anne (1849–1939) and Emma Mather (1853–1939) was made by a family friend Dr George Story whom they called ‘little doctor’. Dr Story lived with their maternal grandparents Anna and Francis Cotton on their Kelvedon estate at Swansea on the east coast of Tasmania.
George Fordyce Story was a physician and amateur naturalist and photographer. The girls were two of five daughters and a son born to Anna and Joseph B. Mather. Their father had a drapers and haberdashery store in Liverpool street Hobart. Their mother Anne, was the daughter of Quaker, Francis Cotton.
It is mostly likely the photograph of the sisters was taken at Kelvedon where the girls spent their holidays especially after 1857. Two sisters and their mother had died by 1858.
It is not known how early Dr Story began photography certainly by 1860 and when he was experimenting with various papers and processes. In these years a circle of active gentleman-amateur photographers existed in Hobart.
Although based outside Hobart, Francis Cotton and Story were involved in Quaker activities outside their district.
George Story was born in England in 1800 and graduating in medicine in Edinburgh in 1824. Dr Story had immigrated in 1828 with his friend Francis Cotton and took up a position as District Assistant Surgeon at Waterloo Point (later Swansea ) convict station until 1844.
Raised as a Wesleyan Dr Story adopted the Quaker faith and except for 1844-45 when he was in charge of the Royal Society gardens in Hobart, Dr Story lived at Kelvedon with the Cottons providing medical and horticultural and technical services to the estate. A small collection of Dr Story’s work has survived in Tasmania.
The Religious Society of Friends or Quakers formed in Hobart in 1832 was the earliest in Australia and remains active to the present day. The Quakers were known for their commitment to thrift, honesty, good works and distinctive plain style of dress and lifestyle. The friends established the temperance movement in Australia and supported various educational, Aboriginal and convict welfare efforts.
Despite the sisters’ demure posture and simple Quaker dress, Esther who had already taken her temperance pledge in 1857, was known for her very cheery spirit. She married Charles H. Robey in Hobart in 1884 and their daughter Linna (Elinor) studied arts and crafts in England and has a number of craft works in the National Gallery of Australia collection.
Emma also found a partner within the Quaker circle in Tasmania, marrying William Benson. Elinor and her sister Marguerita donated much material to the Quaker collection at the University of Tasmania. The Quaker Collection website contains a number of photographs of the Mather family including later photographs of both sisters and their children and Esther’s dark grey wedding dress which echoes the simple dress in her portrait.
University of Tasmania essay on Dr George Story
Obituary for Dr George Story
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