AustLit

Francis Thomas Dean Carrington (1843-1918) was born in London, where he undertook medical studies before spending a brief time in Paris and then moving to Melbourne in the 1860s to pursue a career. He began his life in Australia as a digger on Woods' Point and at Miners' Rest before switching to painting and writing. He was a cartoonist for Melbourne Punch, and a cartoonist and writer for the Australasian Sketcher. His political cartoons were published across several newspapers and magazines, such as the Australian Journal, the Melbourne Punch, the Touchstone, and the Australasian. He also illustrated several books including Long Odds by Marcus Clarke and Punchialities from Punch. His final cartoon, ‘The Last of the Session’, appeared in Punch on 15 December 1887.

With the rise in the use of photography, Carrington turned to writing and was a regular contributor to the Argus under the pseudonym 'Leonardo' and to the Australasian as 'Ixion.' He is also credited with being mainly responsible for the Cup gossip 'Under the Elms', which was started by the late E. S. Chapman.

In June 1880, alongside journalists George Allen (Melbourne Daily Telegraph), John McWhirter (Age), and JD Melvin (Argus), Carrington joined the special train accompanying the police to Glenrowan, to cover the last siege of Ned Kelly. His article ‘Catching the Kellys: a personal narrative of one who went in the special train’ was published in The Australasian on Saturday 3 July, 1880. Written in the first person, it evocatively describes the siege and capture of Kelly at Glenrowan. It was republished across several newspapers, including the Argus and the West Australian.

Carrington’s illustrations of the siege and its aftermath for the Australasian Sketcher are among his most famous drawings. Together, his words and images underpin the way Ned Kelly is remembered in Australian history and cultural mythology. In 2003, Ian Jones edited the mini-book, Ned Kelly The Last Stand, Written and Illustrated by an Eye Witness, which republished the Glenrowan account by Carrington within a personal and historical context.

Carrington was a member of the Melbourne Bohemian circle that included such men as Adam Lindsay Gordon, Marcus Clarke, Henry Kendall, William Jardine Smith and others. A writer in the journal Free-Lance commented that 'of all the men in Melbourne, Tom Carrington is perhaps the only one who could write a book on the lives and times of the men who hold a big place in Australian literature to-day' (11 June 1896, p. 3).