HMCS Protector and the sailing vessel Torrens

• About George Frederick Gregory Jnr

  George Gregory Jnr was the eldest son of George Frederick Gregory. His father established a marine painting business in Melbourne in the 1850s, in which George and his younger half-brother Arthur also worked. They made numerous photographic reproductions of their ship portraits, selling the originals to captains or owners, and the photographs to the crews.

  George worked in the various ports moving from Melbourne to Adelaide and then to the east to Sydney and Newcastle. He painted watercolour ship portraits in the manner of his father and like many ship portraitists working around the turn of the century forged liaisons with ship photographers to produce and sell work.

  George Jr. was one of only a few who worked in several localities across Australia during his life. Starting in Melbourne with his father he then spent years working in South Australia, and finally in New South Wales.

  Throughout his career, the quality of his output was diverse, and the dimension of completed works ranged from portable postcard-sized watercolours to examples exceeding 1.3 metres across. He was a versatile and commercially oriented artist.

  George was active in Adelaide from 1888 until 1894, when personal problems led to him moving to Sydney and finally Newcastle in NSW.

  More paintings by George Frederick Gregory Jnr
• About HMAS Protector (l) (HMCS)

  The gunboat Protector was ordered in 1883 and built in Scotland for the South Australian Government following a decision to establish a naval force for the protection of the colony’s coasts and harbours.  On 1 March 1901 Protector, and all other naval forces of the various Australian states, was transferred to the Commonwealth. With the foundation of the Royal Australian Navy in 1911 she was commissioned as HMAS Protector.

More reading

• Additional resources for George Frederick Gregory Jnr
  • George Frederick Gregory [Jnr], Australian National Maritime Museum (sea.museum)
  • George Frederick Gregory Jr (1857-1913): A marine artist's career in South Australia during the late nineteenth century | The Great Circle: Journal of the Australian Association for Maritime History (informit.org)
• Additional resources for HMAS Protector (l) (HMCS)
  • HMAS Protector (l) (HMCS), The Sea Power Centre (navy.gov.au)