Frederick Garling
1806 - 1873 Inward bound and Outward bound 1830-39- watercolour
Frederick Garling (1806-1873), customs official and marine artist, was born on 23 February 1806 at King Street, Holborn, London, the son of Frederick Garling. He arrived in Australia with his parents in the Francis and Eliza in 1815. In 1827 he was appointed a landing waiter in the Customs Office in Sydney at £250 a year and in 1847 was promoted acting landing surveyor. In 1856 before a parliamentary select committee, and in 1859 before a board of inquiry, he gave detailed evidence on the state and working of the Customs Department.
He was entirely self-taught as an artist and specialized, naturally enough, in marine subjects. His output was prodigious: it is said that he painted a large proportion of the ships which entered Port Jackson during his lifetime.
Source:G. P. Walsh, 'Garling, Frederick (1806–1873)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/garling-frederick-2080/text2605, published first in hardcopy 1966, accessed online 30 January 2024. Australian Dictionary of Biography