Frederick Colquhoun Tindal

sketcher and pastoralist, was born at Real del Monte, Mexico, on 13 October 1829, second son of the 12 children of Captain Charles Tindal RN and Anne Sarah, née Grant. He was a brother of Mary Tindal. Frederick seems to have studied engineering and carpentry and at one time thought of becoming a professional surveyor, but in mid 1850 he set out with capital of £1000 to join his brother Charles in New South Wales. The latter part of the voyage on board the General Hewitt was passed in some discomfort, Frederick wrote, all being 'rolling and pitching, shipping seas, wet cabins and sick beds, the experienced surgeon continually drunk, passengers and captain squabbling'. Nevertheless, he made several paintings and drawings of his fellow passengers, including one of the barrister Frederick William Meymott, later a well-known judge.

On arrival Frederick joined Charles on his property, Koreelah, on the Clarence River. Soon afterwards he was setting up a turning lathe and asking his father to send him some wood. It arrived in February 1853 accompanied by his portfolio of English sketches, which was 'very much admired'. Frederick enclosed several drawings with his letters home. For instance, early in 1851 he had sent back a sketch of the Koreelah homestead and, later in the year, a view of 'Mr Mylne's home at Eatonswill' and a drawing of 'a common parrot of our district'. In late 1851 he forwarded a coloured sketch of Wyangerie Plains and in July 1853, after a visit to a property on the Darling Downs, a view of the homestead 'with a fierce looking stockman supposed to be looking after cattle'.

In October 1851 Charles wrote to his father enclosing Frederick's sketch of their Aboriginal servant Jacky, who had recently decamped. The following August Frederick, after attending a corroboree, wrote to England: 'The few sketches I have made are too large and important for an envelope'. On another occasion, however, he confessed to little success in his attempts at Aboriginal portraits: 'The sensitive creatures dislike standing still to be stared at'. Frederick also copied sketches some of which were apparently published in London. A letter home dated 3 January 1854 notes: 'The drawings I sent home are copies of sketches by an artist [possibly Conrad Martens] who would have been surprised to have found them in the Illustrated London News'.

When the lease of Koreelah expired in April 1854, the cattle were transferred to Ramornie (also on the Clarence). By June Frederick was making an exploratory expedition to Queensland looking for pasture. On his return, he found that his younger brother, Arthur, had drowned when coming to the Clarence from Sydney. Frederick shared his fate. While managing Ramornie when Charles was in London he drowned when attempting to cross the Clarence River at Smith's Falls on 22 June 1855. (Two years later the youngest Tindal brother, Francis, was drowned when the Dunbar was wrecked off Sydney Heads.)

Staff Writer.