Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (1794–1847), Frederick George Brodribb 1840, chalk and gouache. Art Gallery of South Australia, gift of Miss L. K. Symon, 1965. Frederick Brodribb (1819–1840) was acting Assistant Surgeon when he died on 30 March 1840 – in a manner which resonates in COVID-19 times today – of ‘Typhus Fever, caught in attending to the patients in the Hospital ... he was indeed, a son of whom any parents might be proud; for he promised, if he had been spared, to be a credit not only to his family, but to the Colony, and an ornament to his profession.’ True Colonist 3 Apr 1840 p 7.
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Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (1794–1847) was early colonial Australia’s most sophisticated and glamourising portraitist. The current exhibition, Paradise Lost – Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) features 40 works by Wainewright together with contextual works by Blake, Fuseli, von Holst and a raft of Old Master prints known to have been in Wainewright’s collection.
Greg Hill’s new research, using contemporary newspapers and other resources now easily available on Trove, has found a raft of previously unknown potteries operating in Victoria in the 19th century. These push back the dates of Victorian pottery manufacture into the 1840s. Many examples of these wares however were overlooked and unrecognised, because the names of their potteries suggested a British origin. Until now, the earliest date for pottery manufacture in Victoria was thought to be in the 1860s, with a few potteries operating long and successfully into the 20th century. Most potteries were small operations run by people from diverse backgrounds, producing different types of ceramic goods, augmenting and often pre-dating the bigger, well-known potteries.
A sampler, and the von Stieglitz family Bible in which it was kept for many years, were sold at auction in Launceston in 2016. The sampler consists of stitching on a square of linen cloth 6 inches (15.2 cm) in width by 61⁄2 inches (16.5 cm) in length, edged with blue ribbon (plate 1). The stitches used are largely cross stitch and chain stitch, with the pattern being letters of the alphabet, both upper and lower case and numbers.
Both plain and novelty cribbage boards have been produced around the world for about 400 years. Australian-made cribbage boards can only be post–1788 and at this stage I know of no boards dating before the early 1800s, though very plain boards are difficult to date accurately. By the mid-19th century, many novelty forms of boards existed and had become collectable.
In the preceding article, David Bedford identified four Australian manufacturers of cribbage boards: Grose Manufacturing Co of Brisbane; Clipsal, a brand name of Gerard Industries in Adelaide; John Sands & Co, founded in Sydney as Sands & Kenny in 1851; and Crown Mulga made by A.W.G. Davey & Sons Ltd of Cheltenham SA from c 1947–1954 or later. So when a board appeared at auction in May 2021 bearing a paper label with the maker’s name, ‘Allan Duckworth’, it spurred the authors to uncover his background. Newspapers, local historians and family sources have revealed a mass of information and a selection of his works. American-born Allen Duckworth (1863–1940) was a staunch advocate of using Australian native timbers, particularly those from Beech Forest in Victoria, for furniture and ornamental woodwork.
Dr Erickson concludes her story of the professional women artists who commenced working in Western Australia before World War I. All were born in South Australia or England, coming to Western Australia later, most as young adults and often with other family members. Their careers began in the heady years of the women’s movement, when women won the right to vote, and middle-class women began to take their place working in professions other than homemaking. Some continued working well into the 20th century.
BOOK REVIEW BY ANNE-MARIE VAN DE VEN Gavin Fry, Havekes Painter, Sculptor, Ceramicist, Beagle Press, Canberra 2020. Hardcover, 168 pp, 32.5 x 27.5 cm, ISBN 987-0-947349-63-9, RRP $99.
BOOK REVIEW BY PETER LANE Justin Gare, Donald Leslie Johnson and Donald Langmead, Colonial Vision Adelaide Kingston & Light. Stress Press, 5 Brick Kiln, Heathfield SA 5153. Soft cover, 142 pp 15 x 23 cm. RRP $20
