Cirrus@Austlit

Born in Dublin in 1831, Francis Wilson Niven ran away to sea at the age of 13. He taught himself to draw while he was a seaman, and came to the Victorian goldfields in 1852. After seven years without luck as a digger at Ballarat, he bought a small lithographic plant- 'a hand press, a few lithographic stones, a copper-plate press, a few cans of ink ... ' for forty pounds and drew and printed scenes of the diggings. (Cyclopedia of Victoria vol. 3). He commenced a printing business, F. W. Niven, which developed into a large and prosperous firm known for its illustrative work. Niven and his son Henry Ninian invented the Crisp Photo process.

Niven is recognised as an artist and photographer as well as a printer. In the 1890s he and his son, H. N. Niven, brought the plant to Melbourne, where they continued to produce 'every kind of artistic and ornamental work' in Flinders Street.