Ernest Edward Moffitt

(1871 – 1899)

Ernest Moffitt was a skilled painter and musician who lived in Yarra Street Alphington. Born in Bendigo in 1871, Moffitt became the first student of music at Melbourne University. Although he played the bassoon, banjo and church organ, it was for his pen drawings, etches and wood cuts that he was to become well known. Moffitt’s home became a haunt for local artists, including Fred McCubbin but Moffitt died tragically at the age of 28. His death was widely mourned by the artist community.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1851 – 1890. (1981). Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press.