Amelia Bunbury née Pries
Portrait of Amelia Bunbury in 1932.
Born1863
Western Australia, Australia
Died1956
Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation(s)Australian horse breeder, photographer, sculptor, and botanical collector
Years active1894–1895 (botanical collector), 1900-1909 (wood carving), 1901-1910 (photography),

Amelia Matilda Richardson Pries Bunbury (1863–1956), better known as Amelia Bunbury, was a noted photographer, furniture carver, horse breeder, and botanical collector based in south-west and north-west Western Australia.

Life

Amelia Matilda Richardson Pries was born in Western Australia to Robert Ferdinand Pries (1821-1905), horse breeder[1] and merchant,[2] and Matilda Pries (1825 - 1911).[3] She spent her childhood at Prospect Villa in Busselton, which her father had purchased in 1860.[4] Amelia eventually inherited the property and at her death in 1956, "the house was still furnished with much of the period furniture that the Pries family had brought out from England."[4]

In 1897, Amelia married Mervyn Corry Richardson-Bunbury (1858-1910),[5] and they moved to remote Williambury station, near Minilya in north-western Western Australia.[6] Following the death of her husband in 1910, Amelia left Williambury and returned to her family home of Prospect Villa, Busselton.[6] She died in Perth, at the age of 93 in 1956.[6]

Photography and furniture carving

After her move to Williambury, Amelia started to publish photographs in the Western Mail and other publications under the pseudonym Coyarre, including images of Indigenous people.[7] She was featured in The Great North West and its Resources, published 1904.[8] In 1905, her work was featured in the photographic booklet Busselton & District Illustrated,[9] and she exhibited a set of picture postcards in the 1907 Exhibition of Women's Work in Melbourne.[7] Examples of Amelia's photography are held by the State Library of Western Australia.[10]

She won multiple photography competitions in the Western Mail, a weekly Western Australian newspaper,[11] with a particular focus on depicting contemporary "station life," but also other topics in 1900,[12] 1901,[13] 1902,[14] 1904,[15] 1905,[16] and 1906.[17] Amelia's photography of Indigenous people has been criticised as being posed in the style "suggested by anthropological photographers of the day,"[7] that was created under "the instructions of the white woman in authority."[6]

In the first decade of the 1900s, Amelia studied woodcarving at the Perth Technical School, who decorated her home with her hand-carved furniture.[6][11]

Examples of work as Coyarre
  • Black and white photograph of a river, with a man sitting in the foreground on a tree branch, and individuals boating in the background.
    Our prize picture: Among the beauties of the Blackwood River, 1903
  • A photographic collage with art deco borders, titled "Our Prize Station Views" with photographs by Coyarre and graphic design by Percy Stanway-Tapp.
    Our Prize Station Views, 1904
  • Photograph of cattle and horses stopped by a water soak, edged with eucalypts.
    The mid-day halt: Cattle droving in the nor'west, 1905
  • Black and white photograph of Caves House (now Caves House Hotel) near Ngilgi Cave (formerly Yallingup Cave).
    The Caves House, Yallingup, 1904
  • Collage of the stages of sheep shearing in north-west Western Australia.
    The Wool Industry, 1906
ca. 1903-1906

Horse breeding and racing

Amelia's father and husband were interested in horse breeding, and she herself rode horses until she was 83 years old.[5][18] Mervyn Bunbury was a successful racehorse owner with The Brewer,[19] that ran in the Ascot Vale Stakes,[20] and the Alma Stakes.[21] Amelia purchased Spinilly After the death of her husband, Amelia raced the sister horses Beaunilly and Beaufiler in the 1930s.[22] Beaunilly who won the Belmont Guineas and Western Australian Derby,[23][22] while Beaufiler "won races and at the Perth Cup meeting ran second... in the Railway Stakes"[24] and the Karrakatta Plate.[22] She bred Beaufine who won the Railway stakes.[22] Beaunilly foaled Glonilly who won the Intervening Handicap in January 1954,[25] and Beau Vasse who won the Perth cup.[22] Beauambury won the First Maiden Handicap in Perth in 1950.[26]

When her death was announced in 1956, Amelia Bunbury was described as "one of Australia's oldest racehorse owners," and the "'Grandma' of turf."[18]

Photographs of horses associated with the Bunbury family.
  • Black and white photograph of a horse belonging to her husband, Mervyn Bunbury.
    Mr M.C.R. Bunbury's champion Suffolk Punch stallion Ballistite 1905
  • Black and white photograph of a horse.
    Beaunilly, 1930

Botanical collecting

Amelia's family were keen botanical collectors. Her mother, father, and brothers Arthur Robert Pries (1850-1908) and Edward Adolphus Pries (1852-1916) corresponded with Ferdinand von Mueller and contributed to his botanical collection, that were incorporated into the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.[1] Her husband Mervyn may have also collected herbarium specimens for Mueller at Gascoyne River and Shark Bay.[27] She collected specimens at Geographe Bay in 1896, and her specimens are now cared for at herbaria including the National Herbarium of Victoria, the National Herbarium of New South Wales and the Swedish Museum of Natural History.[5][28]

Further reading

References

  1. ^ a b "Richardson-Bunbury, Amelia Matlida (née Pries) (1863 - 1956)". Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, Australian National Herbarium, Biographical Notes. Australian National Herbarium. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Prospect Villa". inHerit. Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, Government of Western Australia. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Pries, Matilda (nee Peek/Peck) (1825 - 1911)". Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, Australian National Herbarium, Biographical Notes. Australian National Herbarium. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Register of Heritage Places: Assessment Documentation". inHerit. Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, Government of Western Australia. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Maroske, S.; Vaughan, A. (2014). "Ferdinand Mueller's female plant collectors: a biographical register". Muelleria. 32: 92–172. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Bunbury, Amelia (1863 - 1956)". The Australian Women's Register. Australian Women's Archives Program. November 2020. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  7. ^ a b c Hall, Barbara; Mather, Jenni (1986). Australian women photographers, 1840-1960. Richmond: Greenhouse. ISBN 0864360398.
  8. ^ "The Great North-west". The Great North-west. Western Australia. 1 December 1904. p. 1. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "Advertising". The South-western News. Vol. II, no. 64. Western Australia. 20 January 1905. p. 4. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Pictorial collection name: Williambury Station, Blackwood River and Busselton. Collection number: BA1980" (PDF). JS Battye Library of West Australian History Collection. State Library of Western Australia. 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  11. ^ a b "MR. MATHESON'S TRIP". Northern Times. Vol. V, no. 211. Western Australia. 4 September 1909. p. 4. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ ""WESTERN MAIL" CHRISTMAS NUMBER". The West Australian. Vol. 16, no. 4, 605. Western Australia. 8 December 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ ""WESTERN MAIL" CHRISTMAS COMPETITION". The West Australian. Vol. 17, no. 4, 904. Western Australia. 23 November 1901. p. 8. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ ""WESTERN MAIL" CHRISTMAS NUMBER". The West Australian. No. 5, 213. Western Australia. 22 November 1902. p. 12. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "CHRISTMAS NUMBER OF WESTERN MAIL". Western Mail. Vol. XIX, no. 987. Western Australia. 26 November 1904. p. 32. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ "WESTERN MAI' CHRISTMAS NUMBER". Western Mail. Vol. XX, no. 1, 040. Western Australia. 2 December 1905. p. 44. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ ""WESTERN MAIL."". The West Australian. Vol. X[?]II, no. 6, 453. Western Australia. 24 November 1906. p. 11. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ a b "'Grandma' of turf dies, 93". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 7 November 1956. p. 21. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ "OBITUARY". Western Mail. Vol. XXV, no. 1, 256. Western Australia. 22 January 1910. p. 33. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  20. ^ Donnelly, Robert (25 August 2021). "Ascot Vale Stakes". The Colours of Horse Racing. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  21. ^ "FLEMINGTON IS CALLING. [FOR THE BULLETIN.]", The Bulletin, John Ryan Comic Collection (Specific issues)., 29 (1463), Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 27 February 1908, ISSN 0007-4039, nla.obj-695160534, retrieved 2 December 2022 – via Trove
  22. ^ a b c d e "PART-TIME TRAINER'S PERTH CUP WIN". The West Australian. Vol. 66, no. 19, 800. Western Australia. 2 January 1950. p. 9. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  23. ^ "Beaunilly's Nice Win in Guineas". The Mirror. Vol. 9, no. 474. Western Australia. 8 November 1930. p. 2. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  24. ^ "BEAUFILER WILL RACE HERE". The Herald. No. 19, 627. Victoria, Australia. 12 April 1940. p. 18. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  25. ^ "Tulloh Scores on Lucky Mount". Kalgoorlie Miner. Vol. 60, no. 16706. Western Australia. 25 January 1954. p. 11. Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  26. ^ "Mrs. Bunbury Scores Again". The Daily News. Vol. LXVIII, no. 23, 620. Western Australia. 26 December 1950. p. 8 (CITY). Retrieved 2 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  27. ^ "Bunbury, Diana Richardson (1811 - 1898)". Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, Australian National Herbarium, Biographical Notes. Australian National Herbarium. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  28. ^ "Amelia Bunbury". Bionomia. David P. Shorthouse. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
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