Robert Rayment collections
By Marg Powell, Specialist Library Technician, Metadata | 16 January 2026
View of Stanthorpe, watercolour by Robert Rayment, painted in 1888 [full view]
31159, Robert Rayment Stanthorpe works of art, State Library of Queensland
Original material collections - Robert Rayment
Artist Robert Rayment (1839–1893) was born in London to Robert Sander Rayment and Elizabeth Stevens. Although he initially studied law, like his brother John, he eventually returned to his true passion - art. Rayment became a pupil of John Ruskin, the influential art critic and social thinker who founded the Ruskin School of Drawing at the University of Oxford. In 1870, Rayment joined the Langham Sketching Club, a prestigious society for artists and illustrators in London.
Rayment married Beatrix Hamblin in 1862. The couple had four children, though sadly, three of them did not survive beyond early childhood. In 1887 Rayment, his wife Beatrix, and their nine-year-old daughter Ethel emigrated from England, arriving in Brisbane in July of that year.
Rayment's diary
Robert Rayment documented his voyage to Australia on board the iron steamer, RMSS Chimborazo in 1887. During the voyage he took the opportunity to sketch some of the locations they visited, as well as some his fellow passengers, which he noted that he sold at the time.
The latter part of the book was used as a payment and receipt record - in November 1888 Rayment received £2.2/- for two vignettes of Humpy Bong and in August of 1888 he paid 2/- for the postage of 4 sepias to Sydney.
The diary was donated to the Library by his daughter Ethel Rayment in 1937.
Robert Rayment's artworks
Not long after his arrival in Brisbane, Rayment exhibited a series of watercolours at the Queensland National Association Exhibition (RNA), held at Bowen Park, which included both English and local landscapes. Rayment's first two years in Queensland were spent travelling and painting pictures, some on commission for owners of pastoral stations.
Tippler's Hut
Henry Tippler and his wife Mary established themselves as oyster farmers in Moreton Bay, and by 1864 were trading bags of oysters along Australia’s eastern coast. Their activities included the establishment and harvesting of oyster banks in waters that had been sustainably harvested for generations by the Traditional Custodians of the bay, as demonstrated by surviving shell middens.
The legacy of Henry Tippler can be found in many destinations in and around Moreton Bay - Tipplers Passage, Tipplers Island Resort, Tipplers Ferry, Tipplers Cafe, Tipplers Seafood ...
The hut painted by Rayment, was reportedly enhanced from the salvaged wreckage of the Bellinger (ship) which ran aground during a storm in April 1892, while carrying a load of 45,000 ft of cedar.
Henry Tippler and his wife Mary Ann outside their hut on South Stradbroke Island, 1889. Watercolour painted by Robert Rayment, 4575, Robert Rayment watercolour works of art.
The Studio Years
Less than twelve months after his arrival, Rayment opened a studio in partnership with fellow artist Oscar Fristrom at the corner of Adelaide and Albert Streets, Brisbane, in February 1888. He was an early member of the Queensland Art Society and a regular exhibitor at its exhibitions.
King Sandy, oil painting by Oscar Fristrom, 1888. 4491, Oscar Fristrom, King Sandy work of art, State Library of Queensland. [full view]
King Sandy
Rayment and Fristrom both contributed paintings to the Centennial International Exhibition held in Melbourne in 1888 - Fristrom entered his painting of 'King Sandy' a copy of which, dated 1899, is held at State Library.
The oil painting was of south-east-Queensland elder Kerwalli, who was said to be of the ‘Moreton Aboriginal tribe’ (Brisbane Courier 18 June 1888, p.4).
In the 1880s and 1890s, Kerwalli was usually based around Toorbul, Sandgate, and Redcliffe, from where he would walk, or sometimes catch the train, to sell oysters and fish in Brisbane. ... See biography: Kerwalli (c.1832–1900) by Ray Kerkhove
In 1889, Rayment relocated his studio from Adelaide Street to his home, Maisonnett, on the Langlands Estate at Coorparoo. Rayment supplemented his income by teaching drawing at Brisbane Technical College, Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School, Miss O’Connor’s School at Oxley, and Miss Clark’s School at Toowong.
Rayment’s notebook records buyers of his work between 1887 and 1889, including: Souter, Foxton, McNab, Forster, Dr Thompson, Savage, Morehead, Maglig, Mrs Hornibrook, Dr Powell, Collings, and Nichlin.
Two watercolour paintings by Robert Rayment, one likely to be of Stanthorpe, the other the jetty at Humpybong (Redcliffe Peninsula).
4575, Robert Rayment watercolour works of art, State Library of Queensland
In 1891 Rayment sold 46 of his works, both watercolour and oils, in the rooms of auctioneer James Robert Dickson. Rayment’s career in Queensland was cut short when he died suddenly of a stroke on 18 August 1893 age 55, leaving his wife Beatrix and daughter Ethel.
Posthumously …
Rayment's work titled 'Sandgate Pier' was exhibited in the 'Opening Collection, 1895' of Queensland's new National Gallery, which was held in it's temporary location in an upstairs room of the Brisbane City Town Hall.
Another of his works titled 'North Pine' was known to be purchased by the then Queensland Governor Sir Henry Wylie Norman, during the Queensland Art Society Exhibition of 1893.
Ethel Rayment
Four years after Rayment’s death, his wife Beatrix also passed away, leaving their daughter Ethel an orphan at the age of 18. Ethel, who had trained as a nurse, went on to work as a matron at several private schools, including Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School, Maryborough Girls’ Grammar School, and The Southport School.
In 1937 Ethel donated 13 of her father’s artworks, along with his 1887 voyage diary, to the State Library of Queensland. The following year, in 1938 she donated an early painting by her father to the Senate of the University of Queensland. Painted in 1889, the work depicts the St Lucia estate as it appeared at the time, with broad, flat cane fields stretching toward distant mountains. That same year marked the subdivision of the St Lucia property for building sites.
Other works by Rayment remain in private hands, as well as in several public collections, including the Queensland Art Gallery and the UQ Art Museum.
As Rayment’s active career in Queensland spanned only six years, his works - particularly his landscapes - are now considered extremely rare.
Collections
- OM79-17/1 : Robert Rayment diary [1 diary]
- OM82-56, Ethel Rayment memoirs [1 manuscript, 3 pages]
- 4575, Robert Rayment watercolour works of art [13 watercolours: 1. Humpybong (Redcliffe) post office, 1887; 2. Jetty at Humpybong; 3. Sketch of Henry Tippler and his wife Mary, 1889; 4. Old Ipswich cotton mill, 1889; 5. Site of the old sugar mill at Ormiston, 1889; 6 & 7. Two scenes showing the damage done by the 1893 flood along the Brisbane River; 8. Sketch of Cobb & Co. coach; 9 & 10. Two sketches of the Toowong reach of the Brisbane River; 11. View of Helidon; 12. View of Dalveen and 13. Scene taking in a large tree alongside a river]
- 5655, Robert Rayment work of art [View near Warwick towards Great Dividing Range & Cunningham's Gap]
- 6485, Great Dividing Range, Warwick
- 6639, Brisbane at Sunset, work of art
- 31159, Robert Rayment Stanthorpe works of art [2 watercolours of Stanthorpe]
- 31295, Robert Rayment landscape sketch [unidentified, possibly Cunningham's Gap]
- 31456, Robert Rayment, Woody Point Jetty work of art [steamboat docking at Woody Point Jetty]
- 31455, Robert Rayment, watercolour work of art [unidentified homestead]
- Tipplers : an image of a painting by Robert Rayment, 1889 [copy print from Accession 4575]
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