Elspeth Vaughan, Tasmanian painter

Elspeth Vaughan was born in Hobart in 1926, into a family that had been established in southern Tasmania for generations. Her Vaughan grandparents farmed on Bruny Island; her maternal grandmother was a Propsting, from a large family which produced a state premier, William Propsting; her maternal grandfather was Philip Seager, registrar of the Supreme Court and a major public figure in Hobart. Elspeth was the second of three daughters, between Margaret and Gwenneth. The family lived in a comfortable home at 545 Sandy Bay Road from where her father, Harry George Vaughan, could catch the tram to town, to his position as accountant for Johnson and Wells, an engineering firm.