Story: Cartooning

James Brown and the 'old identities'

James Brown and the 'old identities'

Dunedin engraver James Brown produced New Zealand's first political cartoons, featuring caricatures of the 'old identities', prominent figures in the Otago settlement of the 1840s and 1850s. This cartoon comments on Provincial Superintendant William Cargill (left) appointing William Henry Cutten (right) as commissioner of Crown lands in 1856. Cutten, who was already provincial secretary, was also Cargill's son-in-law. The cartoon was published in James Barr's 1879 book The old identities.

Using this item

Hocken Library, University of Otago
Reference: acc 7,727
Pencil drawing by James Brown

Permission of the Hocken Library Uare Taoka o Hakena, University of Otago, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Further information may be obtained from the Library through its website.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Ian F. Grant, 'Cartooning - Cartooning in a new land, 1840 to 1899', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/cartoon/41724/james-brown-and-the-old-identities (accessed 19 March 2024)

Story by Ian F. Grant, published 22 Oct 2014