This silver cup is the earliest known agricultural prize awarded in Van Diemen’s Land. Agriculture was a critical endeavour in the young colony and the Southern Agricultural Society was set up in 1835 to encourage it and to improve ‘breeding and feeding stock’. Later that same year, at their general meeting, the society awarded the cup to John Henry Cawthorn (1794–1850) for the best cart mare. Cawthorn had migrated from Surrey in England in 1818 and had been granted 1000 acres near New Norfolk. more...
The cup is also significant because silver was only made in Tasmania between 1835 and 1850, while there were convicts here with the skills. When the Victorian gold rush started, many freed convicts – including the maker of this cup, Scottish convict Joseph Forrester – left Tasmania. The growth of Melbourne also meant that Tasmanian makers could not compete with the silversmiths who migrated there.
Joseph Forrester had arrived in the colony in 1829 and was later assigned to work for another Scott, David Barclay, a free settler and successful merchant who had arrived in Hobart in 1830.
The cup is highly decorated, featuring roses to symbolise England and thistles to symbolise Scotland – together, they represent the Great Britain.
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