Jodie Vandepeer

A small watercolour painting reveals remarkable similarities between the 1919 pandemic and that of our times.

This darling little painting came into the possession of a friend – a friend with a very good eye. It came with no provenance, but it has since revealed a South Australian story. This is a tale of changing fortunes, one that spans the scope of Victorian society from servant, Cambridge scholar, muleteer, gardener and aristocrat. As with any Victorian drama, along the way there is tragedy, triumph and tension – a horrifying snake incident and an embarrassment. Above all, the house in the painting tells of colonial hope and mettle.

The November 2018 issue featured the carved furniture of a young woman, Alice Maud Golley (1884–1961) who lived an isolated life with her immediate family on remote Wedge Island in the Spencer Gulf of South Australia. Golley’s furniture is a virtuoso display of skill and grace, yet she was untrained. Among the objects that came to light during her research before publication, Jodie was unable to locate Father Kelly’s chair; tantalisingly, only a black and white photo existed. Then, without any knowledge of the article, the owner serendipitously contacted the Port Lincoln History Group and they were magically in touch within minutes. This magnificent chair turned out to be just 20 km from Jodie’s home in the Clare Valley and had a strong Clare Valley connection to boot.

In her postgraduate research into South Australian wood carvers centred on the Adelaide School of Design, Jodie Vandepeer came upon the strange story of Maud Golley (later known by her married name, Maud Baillie), a self-taught carver from remote Wedge Island, with no connection to the School. Her works exist only in private collections, yet a powerful mythology has built up around her, fuelled by a series of newspaper articles and biographies in recent publications regurgitating a few snippets – her isolated early life on Wedge Island, her self-taught carving ability, her perseverance under difficult conditions and her vice- regal patronage. Jodie explores Golley’s history and creations.