author
W. A. (William Alexander) Cawthorne
1825–1897
An early South Australian teacher, writer, and artist, he left behind vivid sketches and observations of colonial life. His work is especially remembered for recording Aboriginal customs and the goldfields era with a mix of curiosity and close attention.
1 Audiobook
The Legend of Kupirri, or, The Red Kangaroo An Aboriginal Tradition of the Port Lincoln Tribe
by W. A. (William Alexander) Cawthorne
About the author
Born in London in 1825, William Alexander Cawthorne migrated to South Australia with his family in 1841. He worked as a schoolmaster in Adelaide, opened his own school, and later became headmaster of Pulteney Grammar School. Beyond teaching, he was active in public and business life, including helping found the National Building Society.
Cawthorne is also remembered as an artist and author. Libraries and reference works describe him as a sketcher and watercolorist whose drawings captured South Australian scenes and events, and as a writer who produced strong early accounts of Aboriginal customs and colonial society. His manuscripts, sketches, and papers are now held in major Australian libraries, which is one reason his work still matters to historians.
Some sources list him as William Anderson Cawthorne rather than William Alexander Cawthorne, and even his birth year is occasionally given as 1824 instead of 1825. But the overall picture is clear: he was a many-sided colonial figure whose teaching, writing, and artwork together preserved an unusually rich record of nineteenth-century South Australia.