Frederic Bonney

Frederic Bonney
Self portrait c.1915 with a robin eating from his hand
Born	1842 Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
Died	1921 Rugeley, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Education	Marlborough College
Known for	Photography, anthropology

Frederic Bonney (1842–1921) was a British land owner and photographer. He took photographs at Momba Station in New South Wales in the 1870s and he was known for these and his anthropology. He was born and died in Rugeley, Staffordshire.

Bonney was the son of the Reverend Thomas Bonney, headmaster of Rugeley Grammar School. His brothers included Edward Smith Bonney and Thomas George Bonney, who was an academic geologist. He went to school at Marlborough College. His uncle, Charles Bonney, visited England from Australia in 1858 to 1862. Encouraged by his uncle, he and his brother, Edward, travelled to Australia.

Edward went to Australia first and Frederic joined him in 1865 at Momba Station in New South Wales, near Wilcannia. In the late 1860s Momba had an area of 6,000 square kilometres (2,317 sq mi).Charles Dickens' son, Plorn, was sent by his father to Momba Station and he arrived a few days before his sixteenth birthday in 1868. He worked as a at Momba until 1872.

Bonney's occupation was as a grazier but his hobby was photography and anthropology. He took many pictures of the Paakantyi people who had traditionally lived along the Paroo River. These people had been devastated by disease and the invasion by foreign immigrants. Bonney's attitude to these people was not as judgmental as many and he took natural pictures which recorded their lives. He was shocked by the racist views of others and he recorded his respect for the "loyalty and integity" of the native Australians. Bonney's pictures have been published recently and in his time they were exhibited at the Melbourne Exhibition in 1880. Bonney's pictures of Wonko Mary record a mourning tradition—Wonko Mary is shown with a "widow's cap" which she has made from gypsum (kopi) and water, and has moulded to her head.

Edward became ill with terminal syphilis and he returned home in 1879. Frederic had to tidy up their affairs but he also took the opportunity to complete his anthropological and photographic studies. Frederic sold Momba station and he returned to Staffordshire in 1881. He travelled back the long way and he visited Hawaii where he again took photographs during a month there.