William Buelow Gould - Convict artist in Van Diemen's Land

Abstract

When I came first to the Launceston Museum I found very many paintings by a convict named Gould. Very soon visitors were asking me questions about him and I proceeded to read what had been written. It seemed very little. In fact, it amounted to the notes that had been put together by Mr. Henry Allport for an exhibition of Tasmanian art held in Hobart in 1931. These notes were published in the " Mercury " newspaper and then put together in pamphlet form. Every subsequent writer on Gould has used them. When people said, however," when was he born? When did he die? Was he married? Did he leave any family? Did he paint only in oil?", I had to reply, "I do not know." I am still not certain when he was born, but I know when he died. When people asked, "Where did Gould live?", I said, vaguely, "Hobart . Then, one day, looking through some records in the Museum, I found that William Buelow Gould was before R. C. Gunn, Magistrate, here in Launceston, for being drunk. So he wasn't only in Hobart. He was also in Launceston and, I found later, at Macquarie Harbour, at Port Arthur, at Bridgewater, and at Jericho. Then-was he married? Did he have a family? Yes. Did he paint only in oil? No, he used watercolour too, much more effectively than he did oil. So I got together gradually some kind of picture of this early artist. Of Gould's early life very little is still known. Actually his name was Holland, not Gould.