Trinity’s Stawell gift mystery

Monday 6 October

Noted art historian and former non-resident tutor Dr Kate Challis (TC 1999) admits that until alumnus Peter Stawell (TC 1971) offered to give Trinity a portrait of his distinguished great-grandfather, Sir William Stawell, she had little knowledge of Victoria’s second Chief Justice, or of his remarkable legacy to this state and this College.

His handsome, unsigned portrait shows a 19th century gentleman, probably aged in his mid-sixties, dressed in Chief Justice robes and wig. It is a painting of very fine quality, particularly in the modelling of the face and eyes, and reveals a man of great character – as Dr Challis puts it, ‘a man who has lived’.

So when the Chairman of the College’s Art Committee, Sir Andrew Grimwade, asked Kate, a fellow committee-member, if she would be interested in attempting to identify the portrait’s mystery artist, she readily accepted the challenge, confident it would not be too difficult.

Her first step was to research the painting’s subject. She discovered that Sir William was born in 1815 in County Cork, Ireland, and read law at Trinity College Dublin. In 1842, aged 27, he emigrated to Port Philip where he quickly built up a thriving legal practice and was soon regarded as one of the colony’s leading barristers.

He was a great advocate for separation from New South Wales and, when the colony of Victoria was established in 1851, he was appointed Attorney General, and then Lieutenant Governor, in which role he was responsible for setting up many new departments and much of Victoria’s infrastructure. In 1854 he prepared the Constitution of Victoria Bill and three years later, at the age of 42, he became Chief Justice of Victoria, serving in that position for 19 years.

When a committee was appointed in 1865 to establish ‘a Church of England College in connection with the University of Melbourne’, Sir William Stawell was elected as its Chairman. He was also one of the original five Trustees to whom, in 1871, the Government granted the land on which Trinity College stands.

Today, another much larger and more imposing portrait of a younger Sir William, painted by Edward A’Beckett in the period 1857–1867, hangs in the dome of the Victorian Supreme Court Library. It conveys a sense of his size – he was over six feet tall – and power; a personification of the law and his role.

But it was from Lady Stawell’s memoirs, published in 1911, that Dr Challis gained a closer, more personal insight into Sir Willam’s character. Physically strong, courageous and resourceful, he saved a man from drowning in the Yarra near Princes Bridge. He was devoted to his wife and daughter, Melian Stawell, an outstanding Classics scholar whose portrait also hangs in the Trinity Dining Hall.

As a result of her research, Kate admits that she has become very fond of Sir William. ‘It is his character even more than his achievements which, to me, make him remarkable,’ she said during the portrait’s unveiling at Trinity this evening.

‘His intellectual and athletic prowess, his sense of loyalty, love of adventure, and achievement of stature through service to others, reflect the values that Trinity stands for and nurtures. This is one of the many reasons why this portrait is a magnificent addition to our already wonderful portrait collection,’ she said.

The unveiling was performed by current resident student Edwina Stawell (2nd year Education), 2008 President of the student-based E R White Committee and great-great-granddaughter of Sir William, in the presence of other members of the Stawell family, including her sister Caroline (TC 2003), her father Peter, her mother Eleanor, her cousin Melian, (namesake of Sir William’s high-achieving daughter), and many of Melbourne’s leading legal practitioners.

Although the artist still remains a mystery, Dr Challis intends to continue her research, hoping that there may be personal papers in existence that will ‘reveal something about which this otherwise magnificent portrait remains silent’.