Rodius arrived in New South Wales aboard the convict ship Sarah in December 1829.
Like Thomas Bock, Joseph Lycett, and other transported convicts with artistic abilities, Rodius's skills as a draughtsman were utilised by the colonial authorities and he was assigned to the Department of Public Works in Sydney.
He taught drawing to civil and military officers and helped to devise plans for proposed colonial buildings.
Rodius was also commissioned as a portraitist by members of the colony's elite, such as Chief Justice Francis Forbes.
Having established himself as an artist with the reputation of a dandy, Rodius, with the support of his patronage, was granted a ticket of exemption in 1832—the year he began to earn his own living as an artist—which was changed to a ticket of leave two years later.

Rodius remained in Australia where he continued to create portraits of well-known colonial identities, including explorer and fellow German Ludwig Leichhardt.
According to National Portrait Gallery curator Joanna Gilmour, it was Rodius's portraits of Indigenous Australians that "demonstrated his true dexterity" as an artist.
While some of the images hint at caricature, others, such as his images of Aborigines from the Shoalhaven district, "are disarming in their softness and sensitivity".
Rodius's Aboriginal works were widely disseminated by the artist as lithographs, sold at a price intended to "place these interesting copies within the reach of all classes".

Rodius suffered a stroke in the late 1850s, leaving him paralysed on one side, and on 9 April 1860 he died "of infirmity" at Sydney's Liverpool Hospital.
Rodius arrived in New South Wales aboard the convict ship Sarah in December 1829. Like Thomas Bock, Joseph Lycett, and other transported convicts with artistic abilities, Rodius's skills as a draughtsman were utilised by the colonial authorities and he was assigned to the Department of Public Works in Sydney. He taught drawing to civil and military officers and helped to devise plans for proposed colonial buildings. Rodius was also commissioned as a portraitist by members of the colony's elite, such as Chief Justice Francis Forbes. Having established himself as an artist with the reputation of a dandy, Rodius, with the support of his patronage, was granted a ticket of exemption in 1832—the year he began to earn his own living as an artist—which was changed to a ticket of leave two years later.
Rodius remained in Australia where he continued to create portraits of well-known colonial identities, including explorer and fellow German Ludwig Leichhardt. According to National Portrait Gallery curator Joanna Gilmour, it was Rodius's portraits of Indigenous Australians that "demonstrated his true dexterity" as an artist. While some of the images hint at caricature, others, such as his images of Aborigines from the Shoalhaven district, "are disarming in their softness and sensitivity". Rodius's Aboriginal works were widely disseminated by the artist as lithographs, sold at a price intended to "place these interesting copies within the reach of all classes".
Rodius suffered a stroke in the late 1850s, leaving him paralysed on one side, and on 9 April 1860 he died "of infirmity" at Sydney's Liverpool Hospital.
Charles Rodius