Design and Art Australia Online

sketcher, author and surgeon, was born in England on 3 May 1820 and trained and practised as a doctor there. He came to South Australia in May 1852 and soon settled in Gawler. By the 1870s the town had been labelled the 'Modern Athens’ (by some of its more optimistic citizens) and, Loyau reported, Nott had played a major part in it acquiring that character and reputation. Honorary founding member of the Gawler Humbug Society in 1859, a body which aimed to expose social pretension and hypocrisy, he began to publish the Gawler Bunyip in October 1863. This extremely successful local newspaper began life as the mouthpiece and chronicle of the Humbug Society, cheerfully exposing its victims and presenting local news with racy and opinionated stylishness. A facsimile set of its early issues, published in the 1960s from the continuing Bunyip office, still makes entertaining reading.

Nott was also a gifted public lecturer. One of his most memorable talks, delivered at the local Oddfellows’ Hall on 15 July 1865, was an appeal for funds to search for the lost explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. Loyau also noted that Nott’s 'tastes were botanical, and as an artist he excelled’. No original art works have been located and financial constraints meant that the Bunyip contained no illustrations apart from an occasional pictorial advertisement.

Survived by his wife and seven children, Nott died at Semaphore on 9 December 1872 and was buried in Willaston Cemetery. His portrait, commissioned by the Friendly societies, was hung in the Gawler Institute.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011