Search results for 'Alan J Robb'

Vol 47 no 1, February 2025
President’s update
By Colin Thomas   |   February 2025   |   Vol 47 no 1

I trust all members had a most enjoyable festive season with family and friends. 2025 is well and truly upon us with significant events planned for the calendar year.It was most pleasing to finish 2024 with 556 members. This is a record for the society and demonstrates the value which members perceive they are ...

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Vol 47 no 1, February 2025
George Hart-Taylor: rediscovering an important Queensland landscape painter
By Dianne Byrne   |   February 2025   |   Vol 47 no 1

Some hold the view that, except for Conrad Martens and Isaac Walter Jenner, no accomplished artists found anything to interest them in the wilder regions of colonial Queensland. Where are the grand landscape paintings to rival those of John Glover or Eugene von Guérard? In fact, several accomplished but n...

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Vol 47 no 1, February 2025
The Thallon Memorial Medal – a gold prize for the children of Queensland railway workers
By Kevin Lambkin   |   February 2025   |   Vol 47 no 1

Over a period of nearly 60 years from 1913 to 1970, about 200 outstanding Queensland school students, sons and daughters of employees of the Queensland Railways, were awarded gold medals valued at £3/10/, or the equivalent in scholastic books, in memory of Railway Commissioner J F Thallon (1847–191...

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Vol 47 no 1, February 2025
The 1889 Queensland Deposit Bank and Building Society silver trowel
By Kevin Lambkin   |   February 2025   |   Vol 47 no 1

A new bank in 1880s Brisbane needed a solid, impressive building and a ‘pleasing and interesting’ event to lay its cornerstone. The Queensland Deposit Bank arranged a formal ceremony, with a silver trowel to symbolically ‘well and truly lay’ the corner stone, under which were placed current newspapers a...

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Vol 47 no 1, February 2025
An industrial souvenir rediscovered
By Megan Martin   |   February 2025   |   Vol 47 no 1

Curators know that the best place to find good artefacts is in the neglected corners of a museum store. Megan Martin found an interesting cast-iron historical plaque, an item from a radical time when a commitment to state-owned enterprises was a central plank of the policy platform of Queensland’s Labor Gover...

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Vol 47 no 1, February 2025
Joseph Forrester’s silver marks
By Wynyard Wilkinson   |   February 2025   |   Vol 47 no 1

London silver dealer Wynyard Wilkinson suggests an explanation and chronology for the punches used on silver created by the convict silversmith Joseph Forrester, who worked in Tasmania and later Victoria. In the absence of a formal hallmarking system in Australia, he postulates that some Scottish-trained silver...

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Vol 46 no 4, November 2024
Annual Report Financial Statements 2024
By Lynda Summers   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4





Australiana Society Inc ABN 13 402 033 474. PROFIT & LOSS STATEMENT For the year ended 30 June 2024




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Vol 46 no 4, November 2024
President’s Report for the 2024 Financial Year
By Colin Thomas   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4





The 2024 Financial Year has again
proven to be a great year of activities
and development for the Society!

My highlight was the March tour of Adelaide and its environs. I would
remind members this was the first
occasion the Society had conducted a
...

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Vol 46 no 4, November 2024
John Wilson Carey and his ‘Queensland’ cabinet timbers
By David Bedford   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4




Scottish-born immigrant cabinetmaker John Wilson Carey (1829–1902) made two exceptional items of Queensland
cabinetwork in the 1870s which still exist today. His skilful use of many different Queensland timber veneers makes them
cabinetmaking tours de force. ...

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Vol 46 no 4, November 2024
The Jonathan Leak 1823 victory commemorative wine jug
By Geoff & Kerrie Ford   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4




Geoff and Kerrie Ford from the National Museum of Australian Pottery in
Holbrook had ‘a bit of an anxious month’ in the build-up to acquiring at
auction in Sydney recently, what they believe is the most important piece of
early Australian convict pottery stamped ‘J ....

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Vol 46 no 4, November 2024
South Australian malachite brooches
By Jo Vandepeer   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4





We can often recognise items as being Australian because of their subject matter (such as kangaroos) or raw materials (such
as red cedar). Even regional variations in subject matter or raw materials across the continent can lead to distinctive products
or artworks t...

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Vol 46 no 4, November 2024
John Wilson Carey, cabinetmaker and saw-miller
By Yvonne Barber   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4




While David Bedford has analysed two extant examples of veneered Queensland desks made by J W Carey, Yvonne Barber
provides biographical information about this man devoted to the Queensland timber industry, who remarked that ‘taking a
man like him from his business was li...

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Vol 46 no 3, August 2024
The reinterment of Captain Matthew Flinders RN
By Robert & Stephen Hannan   |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

A new high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham led to archaeological excavations at St James’s burial ground under Euston Station. In 2019, archaeologists uncovered a wooden coffin bearing an engraved plate identifying the remains as those of Captain Matthew Flinders (1774–1814); his to...

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Vol 46 no 3, August 2024
Book reviews
By    |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

Book review byDr David Bedford of David J Mabberley, The Peter Crossing Collection, an illustrated cataloguePeter Crossing AM, Sydney, 2022. $95 plus pack and post; Book Review by Meredith Hinchliffe AM of Christine Erratt Ceremonial maces ofAustr...

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Vol 46 no 3, August 2024
Making the winning crochet design of 1924
By Peter Lane and Rachel Mansfield   |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

Peter Lane’s article, ‘Australian filet crochet, The Weekly Times Book of Patterns’ that appeared in May 2024 Australianaincluded biographies of the crochet designers and judges of the newspaper’s crochet competition. But it did not record the journalist, who used t...

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Vol 46 no 3, August 2024
Portière 1901, lost and found. Arts and Crafts needlework in South Australia
By Jo Vandepeer   |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

From either ends of the globe, Portière 1901 has been rediscovered. Over 120 years ago, it was created to commemorate the colony of South Australia joining the Federation of Australia. The Portière was commissioned and made by the first women in the world to gain both the right to vote and to st...

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Vol 46 no 3, August 2024
Decoding the Ex Libris designs of Eric Thake
By James Stanton   |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

When a library was a necessity for a well-educated person, ownership of a book was indicated by the presence of a bookplate pasted into their books. While generic bookplates exist, book collectors often approached an artist to design an ex libris specifically for them,...

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Vol 46 no 2, May 2024
Australian Toys 1880–1965: The Luke Jones Collection
By    |   May 2024   |   Vol 46 no 2

The David Roche Foundation, Adelaide will show highlights from the Luke Jones toy collection this winter.

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Vol 46 no 2, May 2024
A Silver Mug by Joseph Forrester
By Bill Lowe   |   May 2024   |   Vol 46 no 2

Bill Lowe argues that a silver mug engraved with initials, probably as a christening present, and bearing pseudo-hallmarks and maker’s initials ‘JF’, was most probably made in Hobart by Scottish-born convict silversmith Joseph Forrester, when he was in business there on his own account in the early 1840s....

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Vol 46 no 1, Feb 2024
President’s update
By Colin Thomas   |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

I trust all members had an enjoyable festive season with family and friends, and took the opportunity to relax. During this period of relaxation, you may well have spent some time reading Australiana and the book so generously donated regarding John Mitchell Cantle, Australia’s first native-born orn...

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Vol 46 no 1, Feb 2024
Castlemaine’s Portrait of the Duchess of York
By John Wade   |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) visited Australia to open our new Commonwealth Parliament in Canberra in 1927. On their royal tour, the Duke and Duchess briefly stopped at Castlemaine station in April 1927, met by an enthusiastic crowd.

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Vol 46 no 1, Feb 2024
Book Reviews
By    |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

BOOK REVIEW BY WARWICK OAKMAN
Mark R. Cabouret, Out From The Shadows
John Mitchell Cantle 1849 – 1919 Australia’s First Native Born Ornithological Draughtsman.
The Australiana Society Inc, Bondi Junction, NSW, 2023. Soft cover,
175 pages, 683 colour & sepi...

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Vol 46 no 1, Feb 2024
Sydney Technical College and Australian Flora in Art
By Yvonne Barber   |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

For 65,000 years, Indigenous Australians have incorporated Australian materials into their art, objects, weapons and tools. From the first year of British colonisation, settlers tried to adapt Australian materials and later, Australian motifs, into their art, manufactures and tools. A century later, Frenc...

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Vol 46 no 1, Feb 2024
Artur Loureiro, a navigator of the fine arts: from Porto to Melbourne
By Andrew Montana   |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

Born in Portugal and trained in Europe, Artur Loureiro (1853–1932) settled in Melbourne where he painted and taught art for a living between 1884 and 1904. Painting various subjects in a wide range of styles, he associated with all the leading Melbourne artists of the time – Streeton, Conder, McC...

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Vol 46 no 1, Feb 2024
The Peter Walker Fine Art Writing Award 2023
By Megan Martin   |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

Judging the annual Peter Walker Fine Art Writing Award, established in 1999 to encourage authors to write for Australiana, has proved especially challenging this year, with so many well-researched contributions. 

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Vol 46 no 1, Feb 2024
Twin Chests of Drawers for Government House, Hobart
By E J Bateman   |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

An exploration into the construction and history of an early, distinctively veneered chest of drawers from Tasmania reveals that it has a twin. E.J. Bateman presents the evidence of the two chests' provenance, noting the 'broad arrow' Government inventory marks, and suggests that they were made by convict cabin...

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Vol 46 no 1, Feb 2024
Members' Awards on Australia Day
By    |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

Members of the Australiana Society have many distinctions. Our president Colin Thomas has already praised the work of Di Dorothy Erickson AM on receiving her Member of the Order of Australia award, but at least two more Australiana Society members were honoured. Julian Bickersteth AO and Dr Judith McK...

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Vol 45 no 4, Nov 2023
The face in the footstool: James Barclay’s rare clocks
By Graham & Sallie Mulligan   |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4




Recycling ain’t what it used to be. Launceston clock and watch experts Graham and Sallie Mulligan came across a tapestry
footstool which their sharp eyes recognised as comprising re-used parts of an old clock. Further investigation revealed that the
parts came from a sign...

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Vol 45 no 4, Nov 2023
The Lahey Project: recording the oeuvre of a prominent Queensland artist
By Glenn Cooke   |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4




Vida Lahey is a well-regarded Queensland artist who exhibited in 33 solo exhibitions beginning in 1902. More recent interest in
women artists rekindled interest in her works. Glenn Cooke reveals a project to document Lahey’s output and seeks the help of
collectors in this...

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Vol 45 no 4, Nov 2023
Henry F Hutton and the Hutton family, Victorian jewellers
By Teaghan Hall   |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4




Jewellers in colonial Australia, often lured by the gold rushes, came from various parts of Britain and Europe, arriving already
having served their apprenticeships. Teaghan Hall tells the story of several members of the Hutton family, who initially came to
the colonial Victorian...

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Vol 45 no 4, Nov 2023
Robert Ponsonby Staples and early plein-air painting in Australia
By Peter Walker   |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4




British artist Robert Ponsonby Staples was a casual visitor to Australia with his father Sir Nathaniel Staples, sailing on the first
voyage outwards of the SS Orient in November-December 1880. After a month in Sydney, the pair departed on SS Orient’s return
voyage i...

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Vol 45 no 4, Nov 2023
What makes an exhibition remarkable?
By Leo Schofield   |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4




Leo Schofield describes his first (and last!) gig as chair of the curatorium which devised the current exhibition at the Powerhouse
Museum in Ultimo in Sydney, the first major and kaleidoscopic show of objects from the Museum’s holdings since 1988. It has
proved exception...

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Vol 45 no 3, Aug 2023
Vol 45 no 3, Aug 2023
Tasmanian Aboriginal (Pakana) Shell Necklaces
By Anne Schofield   |   August 2023   |   Vol 45 no 3

Antique jewellery dealer Anne Schofield recently exhibited a collection of rare Aboriginal shell necklaces from Tasmania, which were on show in June at her Woollahra gallery... Tasmanian Aboriginal shell work is unique, the patterns and shell types indicate the maker and also reflecta place or places, the ...

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Vol 45 no 3, Aug 2023
Wedgwood: Master Potter to the Universe
By Timothy Roberts   |   August 2023   |   Vol 45 no 3

Curator and historian Tim Roberts previews a new exhibition on the English ceramics firm Wedgwood, founded by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759, and linked with the British colonisation of Australia through its design and manufacture of the ‘Sydney Cove Medallions’ in 1789. These were made from Sydney clay sent...

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Vol 45 no 3, Aug 2023
The Great Kangaroo Wood Mystery
By R A Fredman   |   August 2023   |   Vol 45 no 3

Bob Fredman highlights an interesting discovery, English cabinetmakers using Australian rose mahogany as an exotic furniture timber in the early 19th-century. He suggests that, in the dearth of mentions of rose mahogany in early Australian furniture, there may be a major void in our knowledge and in our collect...

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Vol 45 no 3, Aug 2023
The York Street Synagogue Ark
By Jana Vytrhlik   |   August 2023   |   Vol 45 no 3

Two early arks held in the museum collection of The Great Synagogue in Elizabeth Street, Sydney are impressive examples of Australian furniture. Their distinct Egyptian style could have been a source of inspiration for the architectural style of the York Street Synagogue (1844). In her search for the...

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Vol 45 no 3, Aug 2023
Book Review: Ron Radford, John Glover. Patterdale Farm and the Revelation of the Australian Landscape
By Scott Carlin   |   August 2023   |   Vol 45 no 3

Leading colonial artist? Or leading early 19th-century British artist working in the colony of Van Diemen’s Land? Clearly the latter. Ron Radford, John Glover, Patterdale Farm and the Revelation of the Australian Landscape reveals how John Glover (1767–1849), a leading artist...

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Vol 45 no 2, May 2023
Book review: Tokens of Love, Loss and Disrespect 1700–1850
By Peter Lane   |   May 2023   |   Vol 45 no 2

The subject of this book is coins
that have had their surfaces engraved, repurposed to communicate private and public messages. It covers the whole spectrum of engraved coins created
in Great Britain and forms a cultural backdrop of Australian culture, which pre-gold-rush era was predominantly
a ...

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Vol 45 no 2, May 2023
National tour to Canberra and Regional NSW
By Peter Crawshaw   |   May 2023   |   Vol 45 no 2

The March 2023 Australiana Society National Tour of Canberra and regions was a great success. Forty people from NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland enjoyed three days visiting diverse collections and houses. Each venue gave us a different perspective and appreciation of Australiana, in d...

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Vol 45 no 2, May 2023
Australiana: Designing a Nation, Bendigo Art Gallery 18 March to 25 June 2023
By Emma Busowsky   |   May 2023   |   Vol 45 no 2

Bendigo Art Gallery has drawn on its collections, the Australiana Fund, other collections and especially the National Gallery of Victoria to mount a new survey of Australiana from British settlement to today. Obviously it cannot cover every aspect of Australiana, nor every way artists and crafts...

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Vol 45 no 1, Feb 2023
President’s Update
By Colin Thomas   |   February 2023   |   Vol 45 no 1

Your Board trusts that you have enjoyed exploring our new website, taken the opportunity to review it in detail and researched past articles. Members’ feedback has been most encouraging! As with any change, there is always the odd issue; we are doing our best to fix them and will further enhance the site base...

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Vol 45 no 1, Feb 2023
The 2022 Peter Walker Fine Arts Writing Award
By Megan Martin   |   February 2023   |   Vol 45 no 1

I began last year’s judge’s report with the observation that the annual Peter Walker Fine Art Writing Award, established in 1999 to encourage authors to write for Australiana, had achieved its objectives. The four issues of Australiana published in 2022 confirm that judgement and show that th...

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Vol 45 no 1, Feb 2023
An Itinerant Australian Colonial Billiard Table
By John Wade   |   February 2023   |   Vol 45 no 1

The National Museum of Australia in Canberra has purchased an Australian billiard table, carved in high relief with multiple panels of scenes of colonial life, and its matching marking board. Its price of $1,100,000 sets a new record for a piece of Australian furniture. The NMA is not known for collecting Austr...

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Vol 45 no 1, Feb 2023
Adelaide House, Alice Springs: an outback house museum
By Judith McKay   |   February 2023   |   Vol 45 no 1

Curator Judith McKay focuses on a unique house museum in the Northern Territory, originally planned in 1920 by the Rev. John Flynn of Flying Doctor fame as a model outback hospital. Its most remarkable feature was a passive ventilation system designed to cool the building on the Coolgardie safe princ...

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Vol 45 no 1, Feb 2023
Spanish Craftsmen at New Norcia Abbey in Western Australia part 2: John Casellas
By Dorothy Erickson   |   February 2023   |   Vol 45 no 1

Spanish monks established the Benedictine mission at New Norcia in Western Australia in 1846. Following on from her article last year on Isidro Oriol,1 Dr Dorothy Erickson concludes her series on the Spanish craftsmen who worked on buildings and furniture for the monastic community. Here she examines...

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Vol 45 no 1, Feb 2023
Unlocking the Story of Doulton’s ‘Australia 1886’ Vase
By Jon & Yvonne Douglas   |   February 2023   |   Vol 45 no 1

Queensland collectors Jon and Yvonne Douglas explain how their collecting of Doulton ceramics developed and how, as they read more and more about their passion, their interests deepened. Here they present their research into one particular example with Australian connections, a vase made in 1886 for the Colonia...

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Vol 44 no 4, Nov 2022
President’s Update
By Colin Thomas   |   November 2022   |   Vol 44 no 4

Thank you to the members who attended the 2022 Annual General Meeting in person or via zoom. Thank you also for the show of support to me as President and to the other Directors who were elected.

I particularly thank Peter Crawshaw for his nomination and subsequent election to the Secretary’s position. Ly...

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Vol 44 no 4, Nov 2022
William Knox D'Arcy: Art Collector and Patron
By Dianne Byrne   |   November 2022   |   Vol 44 no 4

William Knox D’Arcy (1849–1917) is remembered today as an indefatigable adventurer, who through financial daring and
extraordinary good fortune, became the ‘founder’ of the modern oil industry in the Middle East. However, there is another
facet to his life, as the ex-Rockhampton solicitor who became a...

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Vol 44 no 4, Nov 2022
The Paris Exposition Universelle, the Suez Canal and a Gold Sphinx Brooch
By John Hawkins   |   November 2022   |   Vol 44 no 4

November 2022 marks the centenary of the discovery of the virtually intact tomb of King Tutankhamun, who reigned from about 1332 to 1323 BC. The pharaoh’s burial goods created a worldwide sensation focussed on ancient Egypt, which has long fascinated Europeans, partly because of its Biblical connections and p...

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The Australiana Society acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.