Edward Snell

Edward Snell was born in England in 1820. He served an apprenticeship to an engineering firm, and worked his way to the position of head draughtsman for the Great Western Railway Company. In 1849 he travelled to Australia, arriving in time for the discovery of gold in Victoria the following year. Like many immigrants of that period, he tried his hand at goldmining, with modest success, before seeking more regular employment.
	'This is a sketch of our hole. We sunk about 10 feet through yellow clay, and then through 2 feet of a composition of sandstone, quartz, sand, gravel, Iron stone and white clay till we came to the slate, below which it is useless to go... we observed that the slate had a "dip" in one direction and dug out a tunnel till we came to the bottom of the dip, expecting to find a lot of "nuggets" in the pocket, but were disappointed.' The life and adventures of Edward Snell
He built the first railway between Melbourne and Geelong, which opened in 1857. In 1858 he returned to England, where he died in 1880. Drawing came as easily to Snell as writing: his humorous observations of colonial life are rendered with a caricaturist’s eye, while landscapes and wildlife (particularly insects) are rendered with an engineer’s exactness.