BEACH AT THIRROUL PRE 1919 By ELLIS EDWARD WILDE GULLIVER (1875-1949) Ellis Gulliver - Beach at Thirroul (Beach Hut). Oil, 24.5 x 45 cm Normally a fairly boring little painting of a beachside lagoon by a very minor artist is of little interest – unless, of course, a dealer attaches the word “Thirroul” to it. So who was Ellis Gulliver? Well, he appears to have been born on the 1 November at Simla in Bengal, but who only remained named “Ellis Gulliver” until mid 1919. Mr. Ellis Gulliver wishes to notify his many friends that he has now taken the real family name of St. John. This has been made possible by a deed-poll in the Equity Court, Sydney, and he will in future be known as Mr. Ellis St. John.1 A novel idea, suggested by Mrs. Ellis Gulliver2 (who, by the way, has notified everybody through the public press that henceforth her name is Mrs Ellis St. John, her husband having taken his real family name by a deed-poll in the Equity Court, Sydney) is a decorated scooter competition, which is being taken up by the tiny tots.3 1 The Sun (Sydney), 8 June 1919, p. 14 Ellis E. W. Gulliver and Fannie L. Thompson married on 26 February 1901 at Burwood, NSW. 3 Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic.), 19 June 1919, p. 2 2 1 And the fact that the former Ellis Gulliver’s wife is making the social pages back in 1919 suggests the married couple were unlikely to be too hard up financially. And it would appear that the artist formerly known as Gulliver did indeed have a reasonably distinguished familial lineage. GULLIVER—STARTIN George Septimes, seventh son of the late Rev. E. H. Gulliver, M.A. (Cambridge), was married on April 24 at St. Matthew's, Windsor, to Ethel, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Startin. The Rev. Norman Jenkyn officiated, and the service was fully choral. The bride, given away by her father, wore a lovely gown of Princess lace (this and her veil being made by her sister), over an ivory satin frock. Her shower bouquet and wristlet watch were gifts from the bride groom. The bridesmaids were Miss Essie Startin, and the little Misses Haidee, Frances and Mabel Gulliver, nieces of the bridegroom. Mr. Ellis Gulliver was best man. The bride's parents held a reception at 'The Willows,' Mulgrave. Sunday Times (Sydney), 16 May 1915, p. 5 But under either name, however, this “Gulliver” person is a pretty elusive artist. His father, Edward Hale Gulliver (who married Esther Georgina Gilman),4 had been a minister has officiated at Christ Church-pro Cathedral in Ballarat in 18805 but the next year accepted the position of headmaster of a college in New Zealand. He returned to Australia and the following interview with Rev. Gulliver in Melbourne was later also reported in the New Zealand press. I had a short interview with Mr Gulliver, service over, and was pleased to find him in excellent health and spirits. If he only succeeds in-his degree, as others have done, who came here from Auckland for much the same reason, I do not 4 Edward Hale Gulliver was born on 16 June 1842, in AtlanNc Island, Miami-Dade, Florida, United States, his father. He married Esther on 29 November 1873, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. They were the parents of at least 13 sons and 2 daughters. He lived in St Bees, Cumberland, England, United Kingdom in 1861 and StraYord on Avon, Warwickshire, England in 1871. He died on 28 March 1894, at the age of 51, and was buried in Hurstville, NSW. 5 At Ballarat he was involved with Freemasonry and conNnued this in New Zealand – even giving an address at the inauguraNon of a Masonic Lodge at Otahuhu, New Zealand (Macleay Argus, Kempsey, NSW, 26 June 1886, p. 3). 2 think he will have cause to regret the change. There is scope here impossible to him in New Zealand. Auckland Star (N.Z.), 16 June 1890, p. 3 Four years later the Reverend Edward Hale Gulliver was dead. DEATHS. GULLIVER.— March 28, Rev. Edward Hale Gulliver, M. A., at his residence, The Boltons, Penshurst, aged 51. New Zealand papers please copy. Funeral of the late Rev. E. H. Gulliver, M.A., will leave Penshurst for Christ Church, Hurstville, to-morrow, 10.30 a.m. Friends invited to attend. Evening News (Sydney), 30 March 1894, p. 4 His son, the artist formerly known as Ellis Gulliver, had plenty of brothers and sisters - as the death notice for one of them in 1941 indicates. DEATH. GULLIVER.— Dec. 29, 1940, at Port Macquarie Hospital, Gabriel Ambrose, 10th son of the late Rev. E. H. Gulliver, M.A., of Cambridge, and the late Mrs. E. G. Hantrive, nee Gulliver, of Chatswood, and loving brother of Ellis, Ralph (deceased), and Guy, Lance, Noel, Sep[timus]., Muriel (Mrs. Williams), Burleigh, Edward (A.I.F.), Standley (A.I.F.), Leslie (A.I.F., killed), Dorothy (Mrs. Clawson), Frank Hantrive (A.I.F., killed). So what’s the chances the “Ellis Gulliver” image depicts Thirroul? Well, as an artist named Ellis Gulliver is recorded as having by 1918 almost certainly travelled to the south coast of NSW to do some painting it’s not an impossibility. For, at the Royal Art Society show in 1918, the following works were exhibited and offered for the listed prices. “Ellis Gulliver's Evening, Manly Lagoon £5/6, and "Bridge near Gerringong, £6/5.6 But is the work depicted at the top of this little tale definitely of Thirroul beach? The only way of taking a guess is to compare the painting with surviving photographs – mostly from postcards. 6 Sydney Morning Herald, 20 September 1918, p. 5 3 And, if one takes a close look at them, a coloured one produced about 1908 demonstrates that the beachfront was once quiet heavily wooded – until campers and picknickers (one of whose tents can be seen in the image below) chopped most of the trees down for firewood for their campfires. The postcard depicts the southern end of Thirroul beach The photo seen above was taken in about 1908 by Algernon Edward Thornton Winn who owned "The Beach House" guesthouse at Thirroul which was located at the northern end of Thirroul beach (where the Mary Street carpark is today) seen at the dead centre of this image. A presumably pirated version (or possibly licensed) postcard version of Algernon Winn’s original But another of Algernon Winn’s postcard photographs shows the northern end of Thirroul Beach making it look somewhat much more 4 likely that the image by Ellis Gulliver is quite possibly a depiction of the slightly more northern end of Thirroul beach as viewed from Algernon Winn’s own “The Beach House” guesthouse – and with the coastal forefront dune now nearly completely devoid of trees on the sand dune by about 1918 as also occurred at the southern end of the beach. The newly-minted artist “Ellis St John” (who was actually the former Ellis Gulliver) then went on after 1918 to produce some very mediocre art works. So it’s a case of case closed – although it would be wise to remember that most history is guessing and the rest prejudice and, horrifically, that the art history produced in Australia is usually even worse. Joseph Davis April 2024 5