03/11/2023
Inching rapidly toward 165 years ago, the Dowling family gathered-though not in their familial entirety, yet representing the vast majority-for their ambrotype portrait around 1859 in Australia. The family dog was keen to get in on the photographic event, and indeed he/she too is immortalised in this valuable piece of Australian colonial visual history.
Mrs Maria Jane Dowling (nee Ware) sits second from the right with one of her toddler sons upon her lap and a tinted gold brooch fastened at her throat. The year of 1859 is a suggestion from the National Portrait Gallery, the keepers of this ambrotype, and I believe a sensible one based on attire and the ages of the children based on their DOB.
Commencing with a small portion of background history on Maria: she was born in Wandsworth, Greater London on 26 January, 1822 to Jeremiah Ware and Mary (Molly) Brooks who shifted themselves and their young family to Hobart, Tasmania in 1823. I've had to put a few puzzle pieces together, but I would imagine that was where Maria Dowling met her husband, Colchester-born pastoralist Thomas (who did not pose for this portrait; a few older children of the couple also did not appear) who became a sheep breeder, dairy farmer and magistrate in both Tasmania and Victoria, Australia. He would later remarry after the death of Maria Jane left him widowed in 1908.
Maria Jane and Thomas wed in the late winter (August in Australia) of 1842 in Launceston, Tasmania. Born of this marriage were 11 known children, though only 7 are pictured in the Dowling ambrotype. The first was a boy, Charles Ware Dowling, born in 1843 in Tasmania, died in Victoria, 1889. Charles does not appear in this portrait, but he was about 16 at the time. Maria and Thomas' second child was daughter Selina Jane Dowling, born in 1845 in Launceston, Tasmania. I believe she is the older girl seated second from the left at the back wearing the long necklace, and lived to see 92 years of early Australia. Next in the Dowling line (brace yourself, we've got a way to go, these folk were the Victorian Brady Bunch...) was Jane Archer Dowling, born in 1846 also in Launceston, Tasmania. I believe she is the girl standing between Selina and her mother. Jane lived to 95, and married an Andrew McFarland in 1874.
Next in the Dowling ancestral tree was Joseph Dowling, born in 1848 in Deloraine, Tasmania (he wed a Rose Fenwick in 1890, London). I believe he is the oldest fellow in this portrait, seated to the right in the snazzy checked trousers. Joseph passed away in 1910 in London. I'm not certain what took him to the other side of the world from Australia, perhaps work reasons. Joseph and Rose had a son, Geoffry, born in 1890 who become one of the innumerable casualties of the Great War, dying in 1915 in Belgium.
In May of 1850 Leura Maria Dowling (left, likely) was born, the first of the Dowling clan to be born on Victorian (to clarify, the state of Victoria) ground. In 1849 the family uprooted from Tasmania to Victoria, where they would reside for the remainder of their lives. Leura was born in Darlington and did not wed; she saw 86 years of life, passing away in Terang, Victoria in 1936. She is buried in Camperdown Cemetery, for those readers who live close by. Elizabeth Dowling was the next to be born to the family, in 1852. I believe that is her beside Leura,. She wed in 1876, and died in 1944 in Ballarat, Victoria.
Benjamin Dowling was born in 1855 and should be the young fellow at the front with his hands in his lap. He would be around 3.5-4 here and is still in a frock prior to trouser graduation as per 19th century standards. Benjamin died in 1907 (his mother outliving him by two more years) in Ballarat. Next in the seemingly never-ending ancestral story is John Ware Dowling, held by Maria. He was born in 1857, died in Melbourne in 1934 (marrying a Jessie Dodd in 1885).
The couple also had a George, Mary and Emily Kate in the early to mid 1860s. They don't appear in this portrait, so the 1859 approx date sounds pretty sensible.
This tinted ambrotype was taken in Victoria and I'm please to report that a few other portraits of the Dowling's are in existence, and will be posted in the comments. Thanks to those who made it through this rather meaty post. With many branches of the tree, there is much to cover. Image courtesy of the NPG, Canberra.
