CAROLINE BAY
William Greene (1872-1925)
The Roadmakers, 1916
Oil on canvas
Alganrighe Art Gallery Collection 2002.10
William Greene was born in Australia and came to New Zealand with his family in 1874. After living in Dunedin and then Timaru, Green then left to study art in Melbourne and London. He returned to Timaru in c.1894 and took a teaching position at Timaru Boys High in 1912 and then in 1914 at the Timaru Technical College.
In London Greene had attended the Calderon School of Animal Painting in Kensington. He was an avid painter of horses, and *The Road Makers*, 1916, is a prime example of this. This seemingly effortless, vibrant and detailed painting of four horses ploughing a new road beside the sea is depicting an event that actually took place. The man situated on the left of the painting driving the team of horses (whose names were Star, Prince, Ben and Jock) is John Deans (1846-1932), a Farmer from Waimate who was contracted by the Borough Council to plough the roads. It took hard labour to level the ground and form new roads, but this was necessary for a growing town.
