Cirrus@Austlit

'This article describes Hubert de Castella's life prior to his coming to Australia. Of Swiss origin, he always wanted to be an artist but at his father's request he engaged in architectural studies, without however qualifying as an architect. He subsequently took French citicizenship and enlisted in the French army. In 1854 he joined his brother Paul in Victoria and enjoyed helping on the farm, hunting and handling stock. He also designed houses for his brother and painted and sketched in the new country. During his stay in Australia he came across the work of S.T. Gill. When Hubert de Castella returned to France in 1856, he assembled his reminiscences in a volume called Les Squatters australiens which Hachette accepted for publication in its Bibliothèque des Chemins de Fer collection after first serialising it in the new magazine Le Tour du monde. The magazine required illustrations and Hubert de Castella was only too happy to oblige. However among the drawings attributed to him there appears to be a copy of T. S. Gill's "Stockman" with only minor variations. One of the mysteries of this imitation is that the version of "The Stockman" used by Hubert de Castella was not published until after his return to Europe.