Mayoral Portraits, Henry Condell Esq, First Mayor of Melbourne, 1842-44
Summary
Melbourne’s first Mayor, Henry Condell arrived in Tasmania from Scotland in 1824. One of Melbourne’s first brewers, he quickly built up a sizable property portfolio in the young town.
Although his mother was a Catholic, he was an active Loyalist and stood as Melbourne’s representative for the Legislative Council in Sydney against Edward Carr, a popular Catholic candidate. Condell’s nomination caused the first sectarian riot in Melbourne.
Garryowen, Melbourne’s early chronicler, was not kind to him: “A defeat would have been better personally for him than a victory, because it brought into a prominence which made his utter incapacity the more conspicuous. As a Legislative representative he was an arrant failure.”
As Mayor he struggled hard to create some of the basic amenities to improve life in the new town, but it must be acknowledged his efforts were hindered by a shortage of funds.
When standing for election he gave voters free beer; a practice not only accepted, but virtually expected by the population.
The artist and date of this portrait are unknown. It is however worth noting some of the known facts associated with the work and musing on reasonable likelihoods.
Condell was in his early forties when he became Mayor in 1842. He held the position for two years. A bronze plaque that is still hanging in Town Hall with Condell’s head and shoulders in bas relief presents a man with a full face who looks about that age. The portrait, by contrast, presents a man who looks in his fifties or sixties. Condell left Melbourne for England in 1854 and died in 1871 aged 71 or 72 years old. The portrait was presented to Council as a gift from Condell two years earlier in April 1869 (The Argus, 21 April 1869). The painting was shifted to Town Hall from a picture framer at 87 Little Collins Street, Melbourne.
Given the older appearance of Condell in the portrait and the known relevant dates, it seems entirely likely that the portrait was actually painted in England in the 1860s and then shipped to Melbourne where it was framed by Isaac Whitehead (thus avoiding the more expensive freight costs of shipping a framed rather than a rolled work, as well as the risk of damaging the frame).
Condell and his family certainly seemed prepared to invest in the memorialisation of his time in Melbourne. His son paid for the Town Hall clock in his memory. In Perivale, now a suburb of London, UK, a stained glass window featuring the Madonna and Child has the following inscription at its base: “In memory of Henry Condell 1st and 2nd Mayor and 1st Member of the Legislative Council of Melbourne, Victoria and Marion his wife.”
Note that the painting was damaged in the 1925 Town Hall fire and was trimmed; it is possible that a signature was excised from the bottom of the work.
