AUSTIN, John Gardner (1812-1884) — Sydney
Lithographer, zincographer, stationer and copperplate printer. Lithographed Plan [of Sydney] shewing the site for the New Government House, Public Offices, the Circular Quay & improvements of streets connected therewith 1836; John Helder Wedge, Map of Port Phillip 1836 — for Raphael Clint. Also produced Robert Russell, “Lithographic drawings of Sydney and its environs” 1836, portraits, caricatures, music, etc.
Baptised 26 Aug 1812 at St. Dunstan Stepney, London, the son of Daniel Austin, gentleman, and his wife Hannah Hill, who had married in 1796. Arrived in New South Wales 12 Jun 1834 on the Bristol, out of Gravesend, and commenced business as a lithographer. He shortly afterwards announced that “in addition to the lithographic, he has lately received from England a copper-plate printing press, by which means he is enabled to print every description of copper plates, viz.: maps, views, bills of lading, bills of exchange, visiting and invitation cards, &c. &c. &c., on the shortest notice, and most reasonable terms” (Sydney Herald, 3 Nov 1834). In 1836-1837 he traded with William Fernyhough as “J. G. Austin & Co”. He married Annette Schaw (1816-1884) at St. Andrew’s Scots Church, Sydney, 27 Jul 1837. Austin appears to have sold his lithographic equipment to Raphael Clint in 1838. His wife sold a parcel of land on Bligh Street in Sydney for £500 in 1839. He was described as a store-keeper of Wollongong when declared insolvent in April 1842. In July 1843 he was appointed a rate-collector for Phillip Ward. In April 1849 it was announced that he had absconded and a warrant issued on a charge of embezzlement. A reward of £25 was offered for his apprehension. No report of his capture has been found and he is thought to have spent most of the next thirty years in New Zealand – certainly letters intended for him were received at Auckland in the 1850s. An inheritance from his father, who had died in 1854, in favour of Austin’s wife and children, was announced as unclaimed in the London Gazette in 1881 and 1884. He was next definitely heard of in 1881, once more described as a lithographer, and now living in Kyneton, Victoria. He was at that time granted administration of the estate of the late husband of his daughter, Fanny Dutton, “until she shall become of sound mind”. He was buried 8 Dec 1884 at Kyneton, six months after the death of his wife.
15 Phillip Street, Sydney — 1834-1835
Jamison Place, George Street — 1835
13 Hunter Street, Sydney — 1835
12 Bridge Street, Sydney — 1836-1837
Lower George Street, Sydney — 1837
16 O’Connell Street, Sydney — 1837
Harbour Street, Wollongong — 1842
Victoria Street, Sydney — 1848
DAAO. LG. NLA. Neidorf. Trove.