Deutscher and Hackett

Charles Henry Theodore Costantini was transported twice to Australia, first to New South Wales in 1823 and later to Van Diemen's Land in 1827. Described in records as 'disposed to be very troublesome' and 'highly insubordinate', he was eventually freed on 14 March, 1834.¹ During his incarceration at Port Arthur he had been assigned to the Colonial Assistant Surgeon Dr Thomas Brownell, thus upon pardon he was employed as a medical assistant by Dr John Maule Hudspeth at 'Bowsden', Jericho, who with his wife Mary, née Lowrey, are the subject of this charming miniature portrait pair. Dr Hudspeth and his wife emigrated to Van Diemen's Land in the Minerva in 1822, leaving behind in Northumberland their daughter, Elizabeth Hudspeth (1820- 1858). She was eventually sent to Hobart to be re-united with her family, however, on the voyage she slipped and injured her knee and upon arrival her father would be compelled to amputate her leg, without anaesthetic. Having survived this horrific ordeal, she became an accomplished amateur artist and drew this charming topographical sketch of her family home, 'Bowsden' at Jericho, north of Hobart. The Thomas Bock portrait sketch probably depicts a family member and was also passed down in this group through generations of Hudspeths. Elizabeth Hudspeth's brother, Frank, later became Canon of St David's Cathedral, Hobart. When she contracted tuberculosis in the late 1850s, Frank took her to Madeira in the Canary Islands in the hope that she would recover. However, sadly she died there on 29 May 1858.²

1. Curnow, H., Island Exile - C H T Costantini, Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Hobart, 1997
2. Clarke, P., in Kerr, J. (ed.), Heritage: The National Women's Art Book, 1995, p. 377

LARA NICHOLLS