Born in Buckinghamshire, England and educated in Switzerland, Frederick Casemero Terry arrived in Australia around 1852 lured by the gold fields. Initially based in Maitland, he later moved to Sydney where, with the assistance of Marshall Claxton, set about 'to get on as an artist'.

Indeed, Terry was to become an accomplished landscape engraver and watercolourist depicting finely rendered views of Sydney and its surrounds such as Newcastle and Maitland. He gained significant renown following the publication of The Australian Keepsake in 1854: "decidedly the most elegant publication of the New Year is this elaborately executed work; consisting of thirty-eight illustrations of Australian scenery,...