sketcher, watercolourist and pastoralist, was born on 8 May 1840 at Camden Park, New South Wales, only child of James and Emily Macarthur . Their home, Camden Park, which attracted people from all walks of life, was a fertile scene for the young Elizabeth and no efforts were spared in her education. In painting and drawing she had extensive formal training, copying at first from her mother’s drawing books then being tutored by various governesses. At sixteen she studied with Conrad Martens and later, in London, attended the Normal Central School of Art (South Kensington Museum) and had private tuition from William Collingwood Smith, a founder member of the Royal Watercolour Society who at one time had the largest teaching practice in London. The stages of her development can be traced through the Camden Park sketchbooks, from childhood efforts to later self-assurance, particularly in landscape.

From 1860 to 1864 Elizabeth Macarthur lived abroad with her parents. Based in London, they toured the British Isles and the Continent. In 1867, shortly before her father’s death, she married Captain Arthur Onslow RN ; they had eight children. After the deaths, within the space of two years, of her mother, her husband and her uncle, Sir William Macarthur , Elizabeth became sole owner of Camden Park in 1882. To perpetuate the Macarthur name she prefixed it by deed poll to that of Onslow in 1892.

To further their education, Elizabeth took her six surviving children to England in 1887 to the home of her husband’s family, appointing a young relative, A.J. Onslow Thompson, as manager of the estate in 1889. She later made successive trips from Australia to Europe, studying British methods of dairy farming and the French Métayage system of share-farming which she applied to her own home scene. In 1899 she formed a company, Camden Park Estate Ltd, with her six children as shareholders. She died at Campden Hill in London during a visit, on 6 August 1911, and is buried at Sendgrove in Surrey.

Macarthur-Onslow’s art work, like that of her mother, comprises sketches in pen, pencil and watercolour, mainly of landscapes and records of travels. Apart from the large collection of sketchbooks at Camden Park, there are facsimiles of work attributed to her on display at Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta, New South Wales, e.g. Elizabeth Farm, July 1st. 1865 . Her work changes enormously from crude youthful attacks on paper to fine and sensitive watercolour landscapes, notable examples being the various landscapes sketched en route to Braidwood in 1868. From evidence in family correspondence an interior view of the library at Camden Park previously attributed to Elizabeth and dated c.1865 now seems likely to have been painted much earlier by her mother.

Writers:

Macarthur-Onslow, Annette

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011