Frederic Bonney

Frederic Bonney (1842–1921) was a British landowner 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.

Life Bonney was the son of the Reverend Thomas Bonney, headmaster of Rugeley Grammar School. 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.

Aborigines at Momba Station by Bonney in the 1870s. Front row (left to right): Jenny (Kalthi Tommy's woman), child, Mary Momba, Old Peter, Polly (Jerry's woman), Wonko Mary and Jenny (who later became George's woman). Back row: Jeannie, Billy, Penchey Martin, Ogle-eyed Johnny, Hughey, Panga (boy), Hughey’s woman, Old Mary and Nora. 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 . Charles Dickens' son, Plorn, was sent by his father to Momba Station and he arrived a few days before his sixteenth birthday in 1868. 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.

Once he was back in his home county he bought Colton House in Rugeley. He established gardens and an arboretum at his house. He continued to record local events using photography (many of these pictures are held in a collection at Colton House). He became chair of the parish council and bred show pigeons. Bonney also volunteered to manage his local hospital and the village reading room.

Manuscripts Bonney's important manuscript notebooks, and a copy of his published article, 'On some customs of the Aborigines of the River Darling, New South Wales', were donated to the Mitchell Library in 1924. This paper is still cited.

A book, People of the Paroo, by Jeannette Hope and Robert Lindsay, has been published, containing all Bonney's surviving Australian pictures. Some of these have only recently been identified.