Joseph Backler was convicted for forgery and transported to Australia in 1832. He travelled widely across regional NSW and Queensland in search of portrait and landscape commissions. When he arrived in a town, Backler would advertise his services in local papers. He visited Tenterfield in 1860 on his way to Brisbane. Backler’s landscapes are often very plain records of what he saw in front of him. He rarely exaggerated or romanticised the views.