Abraham Lincolne

Abraham Lincolne (1815-1884) - no relation to his famous American contemporary - was an early European settler in Jamberoo, notable for his collection of 26 detailed pencil sketches of homes and landscapes in the Illawarra and Canberra areas produced between 1840 and 1844, which now reside in the Mitchell Library. The drawings minutely delineate, with a topographer’s eye, every feature of homesteads, townships and views in Jamberoo and Kiama.

Abraham arrived in Sydney as a free settler on 30 January 1838. He then travelled to the Illawarra in 1840 to take up a position of superintendent of the Woodstock Mills at Jamberoo. Lincolne lived in Jamberoo for four years from 1840-1844, at Fig Tree Farm. His drawing of Fig Tree Farm (1841) fastidiously records every detail of the homestead. In 1844, Abraham's property was ruined by floods so he left the Illawarra.

After returning to England briefly in 1848-49, Lincolne resettled in Victoria to continue farming. Abraham Lincolne subsequently wrote two books on farming - 'The Australasian farmer's guide' (1869) and 'The farm and selection: containing the most useful information to the farmer and selector' (1881), which now reside in the National Library of Australia and the Mitchell Library respectively.

Sketch of Black Beach, Kiama. (Possibly of the original fig tree?)

Waughhope House, Jamberoo, was the home of Mr Waugh. The house was built of mud, plastered within and stuccoed without.

Fig Tree Farm, Jamberoo. Abraham lived here for four years (1840-1844) while working at the Woodstock Mill.

The original Church of England, built of timber in 1843, on the southeast corner of Bong Bong and Manning streets (overlooking Surf Beach).