George Hamilton ( 1812 - 1883)

Artist and police commissioner, born on 12 March 1812, probably in Hertfordshire, England, one of at least eight children of Charles Hamilton. Following education at Harrow School in 1823-26, George served in the navy as a midshipman. He reached Sydney before 1837, when he overlanded sheep to Australia Felix. In 1839, following Charles Bonney’s southern route, he drove cattle to Adelaide.

He began mixed farming in partnership with Arthur Hardy, while venturing, with scant success, into commerce and lithography, and visiting Melbourne in 1846. Next year he helped to organize the first exhibition of South Australian artists’ works, including some of his own. A founding member of the South Australian Society of Arts in 1856, he won and gave prizes, and later acted as a judge, at its exhibitions. He contributed some of the illustrations for published journals of exploration by (Sir) George Grey and E. J. Eyre.