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The Batelier Bros.
Claude and Victor Batelier, the Albany brothers whose art chronicled a vibrant era of Western Australian maritime life.
By Tanya McColgan | Published: 18 Jul 2025
In the early 20th century, the port town of Albany, Western Australia was a bustling hub of maritime activity. Naval vessels, merchant ships and ocean liners regularly docked at the port and anchored in King George Sound. Their comings and goings watched by curious locals and wandering artists and among the most dedicated of these observers were Claude James Batelier (1886-1971) and Victor George Batelier (1882-1952) who spent their life documenting Albany’s ships, life and the ever changing horizon through delicate watercolours, sketches and postcards.
Claude and Victor were born in Victoria and moved with their family to Albany in 1902, aboard the SS Kalgoorlie. Their father, George Louis Batelier had inspired both Claude and Victor in art and the brothers, often collaborated on several works, bearing joint signatures like “V. G. & C. J. Batelier”, “Batelier Bros.”, or simply “B. B.".
While little is known of their early years, it’s clear that both brothers shared a passion for illustration, printing and historical documentation. In addition to their watercolours, they created postcards, printing plates, pencil sketches and technical illustrations. Many were produced between 1904 and 1939, capturing Albany as it transitioned into a modern port town and the works documenting a bygone era of naval visits, maritime commerce and Albany’s early urban life.
Claude’s first known artwork appeared in the Western Mail in 1904, a detailed sketch of the British cruiser HMS Diadem. Claude sketched and then painted the British cruiser at age 18, signing it “HMS DIADEM 11,000 TONS, C. J. Batelier ALBANY 04”. This blue hued gouache captures the cruiser during her Royal Australian Navy service and that sketch marked the beginning of a lifelong obsession with ships and Albany’s waterfront.
HMS Diadem, Claude Batelier's First Watercolour, c.1903. (Albany Historical Society)
Over the next few decades, the Batelier Brothers would document Albany’s bustling port life, its surrounding landscapes and streetscapes and would complete numerous watercolours for private commissions. Claude favoured maritime themes, painting everything from battleships and merchant vessels to dredging machinery and Victor in landscapes and architectural scenes. Their commercial output included advertisements, sketched plans, merchant design, postcards and printing plates. In 1906, the first series of postcards were released and in 1908, a second series using their own art to illustrate Albany's landmarks and maritime traffic.
Ink sketch on manilla card, of St John's Anglican Church, Albany. Claude and Victor Batelier, c.1904. (Albany Historical Society)
Albany District Hospital - Vancouver Street, Claude. J Batelier, c.1906. (Albany Historical Society)
Claude and Victor's works are not merely beautiful, they are of historical and national significance, where their illustrations, feature some of the most notable vessels to visit Albany’s port, such as HMS Encounter (1906), the SS Waratah also known as the Australian Titanic, which vanished just months after Claude had painted it at the Albany Deepwater Jetty in January 1909.
Claude's, 1906 gouache of HMS Encounter is a vibrant depiction blending technical precision with artistic flair. Another standout is of Claude and Victor's watercolour and ink piece of the Premier Pump Hopper Steam Dredge operating in Princess Royal Harbour. A subtle but powerful reminder of the infrastructural efforts and extensive works, that continued the harbour's development, making Princess Royal Harbour not only the deepest but also one of the safest and most picturesque harbours in Australia, at that time.
HMS Encounter, Claude. Batelier, c.1906. (Albany Historical Society)
Premier Pump Hopper Steam Dredge, Claude & Victor Batelier, c.1905-1906. (Albany Historical Society)
Among Claude's collection is his 1909 watercolour of the SS Waratah docked at Albany’s Deepwater Jetty. The SS Waratah dubbed “Australia’s Titanic” was a luxurious passenger and cargo liner launched in September 1908 by Barclay Curle & Co. in Glasgow. Built for Lund’s Blue Anchor Line, she was designed for the Europe to Australia route via the Cape of Good Hope. She departed on her first successful voyage from London to Australia in November 1908 and boasted her state of the art amenities.
In July 1909, on only her second voyage, the SS Waratah reached Durban on the 25 July. On the 26 July the ship set off, destined for Cape Town, with 211 passengers and crew aboard.
Her final confirmed sighting was on the 27 July, around 4:00am when spotted astern on the starboard side by the Clan Line steamship Clan Macintyre, off South Africa’s eastern coast and was never seen again. There was no distress signals, wreckage or survivors, leading to one of maritime history’s most enduring mysteries.
The tale of the SS Waratah with its blend of technical brilliance, luxury, mystery and loss, continues to captivate today. Despite modern sonar and theories, the wreck remains undiscovered and its status is as one of the sea's greatest enigmas.
Claude Batelier’s painting of the SS Waratah is one of only a handful of known works that capture the ill fated liner in her full, laden form and while still in port, providing a rare and invaluable visual record of the vessel during her brief operational life, before the ship vanished without a trace, 6 months later.
Claude's work holds particular historical significance and contributes meaningfully to the broader maritime narrative, especially in an era when photography was not yet widely used to document every vessel, with such detail and artistic rendering. In 1914, when a fleet of transport ships gathered in Albany to carry Australian and New Zealand soldiers to the battlefields of Europe, military authorities forbade the brothers from sketching the vessels.
RMS SS Waratah debunking at Albany Deepwater Jetty, Claude Batelier, c. January 1909. (Albany Historical Society)
While the ban was clearly imposed for security reasons, both Claude and Victor were deeply offended that their loyalty and patriotism were being questioned. Victor in particular, took the restriction personally, becoming increasingly fixated on the perceived slight and engaged in a prolonged dispute with military officials. Following this episode, the brothers' artistic output declined significantly, marking a noticeable shift in their productivity.
While Claude is best known for his maritime art, he was also a keen observer of broader social events and capturing Albany's day to day life. Rare photographs are attributed to him including capturing Albany’s 1938 “Round the Houses” motor race, providing an unexpected window into Albany's early motorsport culture.
This versatility, moving from ship portraits to street scenes, set Claude apart from many of his contemporaries. He was not just an artist but a documentarian, one who understood the historical importance of his surroundings and felt compelled to record them.
Black and white photograph showing Anzac Day Parade, taken from the top of York Street. C.J.Batelier, c. 1933. (Albany Historical Society)
Black and white photograph showing sheep skins drying - C.E.BOLTS Store. C.J.Batelier, c. 1933. (Albany Historical Society)
Black and white photograph of race entrant Clem Dyer in his 'Bartlett Special' car No 1 talking to the pit crew at the start/finish line of the 2.5-mile course. Dyer, in his Bartlett Special, competed in both the inaugural TT Grand Prix event in 1936 (failed to finish) and, subsequently, the 1937 running of the same event. The same car competed again in 1938 with G.B. Holmes driving. C.J.Batelier, c. 1938. (Albany Historical Society)
Black and white photograph showing entrants in Albany's "Around The Houses" car race on Spencer Street heading North from Stirling Terrace. Possibly C.Poole in a Bugatti car No 19 leading J.Coleman in an Austin Seven Car No 12. C.J.Batelier, c. 1938. (Albany Historical Society)
Claude and Victor Batelier continued to live a modest and often difficult life, they were never wealthy or married and in their later years became recluse. It’s documented that in the period before Victor Batelier’s passing in 1952, both he and his brother Claude were living in squalid conditions. The situation became severe enough that police intervention resulted in both being hospitalised, and Victor was reportedly “close to death” at the time. Sadly, Victor, passed away on 26 February 1952, age 70.
Claude was known to spend his days at the Rainbow Milk Bar on York Street, where the owner and his friend, Edgar Green, ensured he was fed. Despite his artistic achievements, he struggled financially and upon his death on 28 June, 1971, at the age of 85, it was Mr Green who paid for his funeral and Claude left his entire collection of works to the Albany Historical Society.
Despite his humble circumstances, Claude left behind an artistic legacy of enormous value. Claude and Victor's body of works, now known as the Batelier Collection, includes watercolours, commercial postcards and rare visual records of ships and local events that would otherwise have been lost.
In recent years, interest in Batelier Brothers works has been rekindled and the Albany Historical Society has made many of their pieces publicly accessible. In 2026, selected works from the Batelier Collection will be featured in the Celebrate 2026 Bicentenary Art Exhibition at the Hilton Garden Inn. The exhibition will showcase never seen before watercolours and original printing plates alongside contemporary works inspired by Albany’s history.
This renewed attention has helped cement the Batelier Brothers, place in Western Australia’s cultural narrative, as self taught artists - who with little formal recognition in their lifetime, created one of the richest visual records of early 20th century Albany.
Claude and Victor were not men of fame or fortune, they were quiet artists who walked the jetties and streets of Albany with sketchbook in hand, chronicling the rhythm of ships, the churn of dredgers and the life of a small coastal town. Their legacy is not just in their art, but in the history they preserved for future generations. As we walk along the foreshore and streets of Albany today, where cruise ships now dock and the skyline has transformed, we owe a quiet debt to the men who captured Albany's story, one ship, one sketch, one memory at a time.
You can explore and download digitised records of the Batelier Collection via Collections WA, click here.