Design and Art Australia Online

painter, explorer, army officer and pastoralist, was born in England on 11 June 1806, son of Andrew Loughnan. A captain in the 10th Bengal Cavalry, he served with the East India Company and was fort adjutant and aide-de-camp to Governor-General Lord Auckland. At Calcutta in 1836 he married Marion, daughter of Dr Ness and widow of Captain Robertson; they had seven sons and two daughters.

After retiring from the army, Loughnan and his family came to Van Diemen’s Land in 1837. By 1842 he had also taken up Lindenow Station, some 40-000 acres on the Mitchell River at Gippsland in the Port Phillip District (now Victoria). Here he grazed sheep and cattle and established an Arab horse stud. With his brothers he bought into other grazing properties in the district. The family’s main residence continued to be Marionburn, Hobart Town, but Loughnan was at Gippsland in July 1847 when challenged to a duel by Lachlan McAlister. Loughnan refused to fight and McAlister stuck a poster on the walls of the Tarraville Inn calling him 'a coward, a scoundrel and a liar’. Loughnan sued but McAlister was acquitted. Loughnan died at Richmond, Victoria, on 20 September 1875.

An undated oil painting, Three Aboriginal Figures at a Fire, Lake Victoria, Gippsland (photograph ML) has been attributed to Loughnan. According to an inscription on the back, he developed it from a sketch drawn by Captain 'Luffman’ (obviously a phonetic rendering of his own name). No other works are known.

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011