Cover image for Francis Russell Nixon [Bishop]
Agency:
Francis Russell Nixon [Bishop]
Agency Number:
Start Date:
01 Aug 1803
End Date:
07 Apr 1879
Description:
Francis Russell Nixon (1803 - 1897), was appointed first Anglican bishop of Tasmania, arriving with his family in July 1843 on the ship 'Duke of Roxburgh'. Nixon and his wife Anna Maria lived initially in Upper Davey Street, Hobart. They lived at "Boa Vista', New Town before in 1850 purchasing 'Bishopstowe' New Town (later named Runnymede). ;;While in Tasmania Nixon visited King Island, the Furneaux group and Norfolk Island. His 'Cruise of the Beacon', published in 1854 with his own illustrations, records one of his Bass Strait islands visits.;;Nixon visited Oyster Cove in April 1858. There he met with Aboriginal Tasmanians who had been brought to live at a disused convict site in October 1847. Nixon took a set of photographs of some of these people. Nixon's presentation copy of 'The Cruise of the Beacon 1854: a narrative of a visit to the islands in Bass Straits' includes images of Tasmanian Aboriginal people that he had taken at Oyster Cove (Page 18 a, 18b, 24a, 24b.) in 1858. Nixon displayed his photographs at the London International Exhibition of 1862. ;;Nixon was instrumental in the establishment of the Launceston Church Grammar School, the Hutchins School in Hobart, and Christ's College. He was a vocal opponent to the convict system, giving evidence to the House of Lords in 1847 condemning the transportation system.;;Nixon resigned in 1863 and in 1865 he retired to Italy. He died in 1897.
Information Sources:
To serve in a distant land : Bishop Francis Russell Nixon and Anna Maria Nixon : the Tasmanian years 1843-1863 / Keith Adkins; The Companion to Tasmanian History; Mercury 14/11/1863, p.4; TA: CSO89.
Functions Performed:
Family archives
Religion
Series Created By Agency:
NS3 Correspondence and associated Papers of Bishop F . R. Nixon01 Jan 184231 Dec 1863