Conrad was born in 1801 at Crutched Friars near Tower Hill and after his father's death in 1816 determined to pursue a career as an artist studying landscape painting under the prominent watercolourist Copley Fielding.

[3] While on board Martens struck up a lifelong friendship with Charles Darwin who was taking part in the expedition as a self-financing gentleman naturalist and companion to the captain.

[2] Martens left the Beagle at Valparaiso in the second half of 1834 and took passage to Tahiti, and many of the South Sea islands, including New Zealand, before arriving in Sydney 1835.

[2] Martens arrived in the colony with a valuable collection of sketches which he at first intended to take back to his friend Blackwood in India, but finding his pictures were appreciated in Sydney he found constant employment and decided to remain.

Jane's father, a private barrister and First Master in Chancery of the Supreme Court of New South Wales had purchased one of Martens' paintings, View of Tahiti in September 1836.

[6] In late 1851 Martens sailed to Brisbane then travelling back by road across the Great Dividing Range to the Darling Downs, then south through New England to Sydney.

In 1863 he became Assistant Librarian in the Parliamentary Library, securing his financial position, but severely curtailing the time he could spend on artistic work.

[11] Like many artists Martens was not universally acknowledged in his lifetime, but by 1910 his works were displayed in pride of place at the opening of the Mitchell Gallery at the State Library of New South Wales.