Painted in July 1855, Frank George Hankey’s panoramic watercolour provides an extraordinary visual record of Port Adelaide at a pivotal moment in its early history.
Stretching nearly 2m in length, this rare hand-painted panorama captures Yartapuulti, Port Adelaide, as it appeared in 1855 just two years before fire reshaped the Port forever.
On public display for the first time in more than 170 years, this extraordinary artwork can be found on the State Library’s Treasures Wall.
While the picture is based on initial sketches taken by the artist in early 1855, research has revealed several embellishments, perhaps intended to hint at the growing prosperity of Port Adelaide and South Australia as a whole.
The panorama was possibly commissioned by the artist’s family business as a way to promote commercial opportunities in the young colony.
Presented in nine surviving pages (with a tenth now lost), the panorama unfolds along the Port River and North Parade, revealing the commercial heart of the Port just two years before it was dramatically reshaped by the Great Port Adelaide Fire of 1857.
Created using watercolour, ink, pencil and gouache, and stretching an impressive 188cm in length, the work captures a thriving maritime and industrial hub at a time of growth and confidence.
Wharves, ships, mills and businesses depicted here were important to South Australia’s trade and transport networks. Many were destroyed when fire swept through and devastated around half of the Port’s commercial district.
Although fragile, with light creasing, foxing, losses and stains, the panorama remains a compelling document of place, memory and change. As a detailed visual record of a landscape that no longer exists in this form, it invites us to imagine daily life in a busy colonial port.
Carefully conserved and now in the public domain, this remarkable work continues to inform, inspire and connect people with South Australia’s past, preserving a moment in time that would otherwise be known only through written records.
The panorama was acquired with generous support from the Paul McGuire Bequest and the Friends of the State Library of South Australia.
Who was Frank George Hankey?
Frank (Francis) George Hankey (c.1832–1911) was a complex and controversial figure.
Born into the prominent London-based Hankey banking and mercantile dynasty 'Dauglish, White & Hankey' of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate, he arrived at Port Adelaide on 11 January 1855, on board the Madras which had sailed from Sydney, with Samuel Francis White, a partner in their family firm. During their short time in the Port, White visited his friend, Arthur Hardy, a South Australian pastoralist, at his Mount Lofty retreat, taking Hankey with him.
It is believed that the artist undertook preliminary sketches of the Port River and No
rth Parade in the first days of his visit. On 23 January Hardy, White and Hankey sailed to Melbourne on board the Bosphorus. Subsequently White and Hankey returned to Sydney, before leaving for London in March. Given a voyage back to the UK in 1855 took up to four months, Hankey might have completed parts of the painting on the return voyage to the UK. Hence, the painting is in sections - pages of a sketchbook.
The business had significant interests in Australian trade, mining and the development of steam navigation on the River Murray, connections reflected in Hankey’s interest in the Port.
Hankey returned to Australia and started a family in New South Wales. His later life was marked by repeated convictions for fraud and forgery leading to frequent imprisonments. Despite receiving a yearly allowance of £150 per year, and inheriting wealth upon his father’s death, he died in Sydney with a reputation far removed from his privileged beginnings.
This report in The Melbourne Argus from 1862 outlines Hankey's rather dubious activities.
“Yesterday, at the Criminal Sitting of the Supreme Court, George Beresford Sargent was convicted of obtaining money under false pretences, by means of passing upon a publican a worthless cheque. On the same day, Frank George Hankey was convicted of a like offence.
Both these persons are young men who had evidently had superior advantages in early life, and the latter is at present in receipt of an allowance of 150 pounds a year from his family.
These offenders appear to have made a regular business of victimizing hotel keeps with forged and worthless cheque and there are several charges against them. Hankey was convicted of larceny a year since, for which he received 12 months imprisonment.”
Dive deeper into the story behind the panorama
Through a rich digital experience linking to historical records and insights, explore the artwork, uncover the life of Frank Hankey, and discover Port Adelaide before the Great Fire of Port Adelaide of 1857.
Painting the Port: Discover the story of the 1855 panorama of Port Adelaide by artist and fraudster
Picture credits: Panorama of the Port River and North Parade, Port Adelaide, 1855. By Francis George Hankey. SLSA: B 78677 <https://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au:443/record=b3812968~S1>
Thomas J Hankey, alias Frank Hankey, 1 November 1872. Courtesy of Museums of History NSW
