James Hazel [a] Adamson (27 June 1829 – 2 May 1902) was a machinist and inventor, better known for his paintings and engravings of marine subjects in the early days of colonization of South Australia.
[14] He had not left South Australia completely, as he submitted photographs of scenes in Melbourne and Adelaide suburbs to the East Torrens Institute's annual exhibition in January 1859,[15] and was listed in 1860 by The Northern Star of Kapunda as running the Adamson Brothers farm machinery factory in that town.
[16] He was however living at Collingwood in September–October 1859 when he made an oil painting depicting the steamer Ladybird firing a blue flare over the wreck of the Admella, from a sketch by one Johnson (or Johnston[12]), who had visited the spot.
[17] This painting and another by Adamson were delivered to the South Australian Society of Arts in time to be exhibited, and the companion piece, Rescue of the Survivors of the Admella by the Portland Lifeboat was awarded first prize despite being ineligible on two or three counts: having been submitted after the cutoff date, and painted outside South Australia by a non-resident.
[21] He returned to South Australia in 1878 to work on the Adamson Brothers' entry for the Government harvester trials and was living at Riverton.