Frederick Eccleston du Faur (1832–1915), environmentalist, public servant and arts patron, came to Sydney from London in 1853, working as a draftsman for the New South Wales Railway Department, the Surveyor-General's Office and the Crown Lands Office. After leaving the public service in 1881, he was a land agent for twenty years while actively pursuing other projects, not the least of which was the mapping of New South Wales. Du Faur funded an expedition to ascertain the fate of Ludwig Leichhardt; conducted research into feral pest eradication; and was among the first to examine the link between Australia's climate and that of Antarctica. Following his move to Turramurra in 1888, he worked tirelessly for the conservation of Ku-ring-gai Chase and was appointed managing trustee on the area's dedication as a National Park in 1894.
Violet Teague (1872–1951) was among Edwardian Australia's most fashionable and assured portraitists. Her portrait of her friend Du Faur was painted in 1911, when he was president of the Trustees of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (now the Art Gallery of New South Wales). Presented to the National Parks and Wildlife Service to mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in 1969, the portrait hung on the walls of a NPWS building for over 40 years before it was discovered that Teague had painted it.
Gift of the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service 2020
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