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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
A portrait miniature of Captain William Hill
By Gary L Sturgess   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4




Artefacts relating to Australia's early colonists, military and convicts are rare. They can even be endangered if their
provenance is lost. Gary Sturgess located this miniature depicting a NSW Corps officer and ensured its survival by
drawing it to the attention of the State Libr...

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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
A window into the past
By Peter Crawshaw   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4




Through The Glebe Society, local homeowners contacted members Peter Crawshaw and Robert Hannan to ask what was
known about a large stained-glass window, obviously not in its original location, which had been installed in their house.
By using their contacts and research skills, they di...

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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
Remembering Terry Lane
By Geoffrey Edwards   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4




Geoffrey Edwards encapsulates some of the spectacular achievements of his friend
and colleague Terry Lane, a former Senior Curator at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Terry was one of the greatest and most influential collectors, researchers and
exhibition curators of Australia...

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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
‘A Treasure Chest?’ revisited
By R A Fredman   |   November 2024   |   Vol 46 no 4





We encourage lively, informed discussion about items of Australiana. Contributions to this magazine usually give the author’ s
email address, so readers can initiate contact and give feedback. As a result of readers’ correspondence and questions, Bob
Fredm...

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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
President's update
By Colin Thomas   |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

Vale, Mr Terence Lane OAMIt would be remiss of me not to commence this update without recognising the loss of esteemed member Terence Lane. Most would be aware of Terry’s contribution to the arts, primarily through his involvement as senior curator of decorative arts at the National Gallery of Victoria. Terry...

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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
Phillis Seal, a remarkable woman
By Carol Bacon   |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

On the death of her husband Charles in Hobart in 1852, Phillis Seal (1807–1877) became the first woman to own and run a whaling fleet. Buffeted by falling prices for whale oil and labour shortages due to the gold rushes, Phillis eventually sold her ships and retired to live near her eldest son at Ballarat in ...

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Vol 46 no 3, August 2024
‘I’m on the throne!’
By R A Fredman   |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

Bob Fredman brings some country humour to discussing the design inspiration of a chair discovered in Brisbane, made of Queensland timbers, which also displays Egyptian design elements. He suggest it was probably made in Queensland and inspired by the finding of Tutankhamun’s tomb at Luxor in 1922.<...

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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 3, August 2024
Research assistance needed: Rabbi Leib Aisack Falk
By    |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

The family of the late Rabbi Leib Aisack Falk (1889–1957) is preparing a comprehensive book about him. Rabbi Falk was born in what is now Latvia, moving to Scotland in 1911, next going to Plymouth, then becoming a British Army chaplain in Egypt and Palestine 1918–1921. He came with his wife and c...

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Vol 46 no 3, August 2024
Miss Rutherford and Australian flora
By Yvonne Barber   |   August 2024   |   Vol 46 no 3

Many items of Australiana are distinguished by their use of Australian materials or their use of Australian motifs. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, several English ceramic factories made wares specifically for the Australian market. The scanty records of the Sydney Technological Museum noted th...

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Vol 46 no 2, May 2024
President's update
By Colin Thomas   |   May 2024   |   Vol 46 no 2





The 2024 National tour to Adelaide
and its environs proved, from all
reports, to be another outstanding
success. It is difficult to believe that
this was the first tour to Adelaide in
the Society’s 46-year history. It was
fantastic to provide the opportunity f...

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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
The Australiana Society’s Tour of South Australia, March 2024
By Susan Tanner   |   May 2024   |   Vol 46 no 2

The inaugural Australiana Society Tour of South Australia was held from Thursday 21 March to Monday 26 March 2024 and took in a variety of museums, public and private collections.

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Vol 46 no 2, May 2024
Australian filet crochet, The Weekly Times book of patterns
By Peter Lane   |   May 2024   |   Vol 46 no 2

Australiana is sometimes accused of being exclusive, publishing articles only on fine, expensive, early-19th century art and artefacts associated with famous men or families from the Eastern States. South Australian contributor Peter Lane delves into the makers and designers of early 20th cent...

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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 2, May 2024
Knud Geelmuyden Bull (1811–1889), Norwegian-born convict artist
By Robert Stevens   |   May 2024   |   Vol 46 no 2

Knud Bull was born in Norway. He trained as an artist and painted in Norway, Dresden, Copenhagen and Stockholm before moving to London in 1845, where he was arrested for counterfeiting and sentenced to 14 years transportation in Australia. Arriving at Norfolk Island, after nine months he was transferred t...

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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
A Treasure Chest?
By R A Fredman   |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

Chests of drawers come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and are easy to describe using some basic elements such as dimensions and number of drawers, types of timber, feet, knobs etc. For scholars of early furniture many more parameters come into play, not the least being an assessment of whether all its ...

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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 46 no 1, Feb 2024
More light on colonial silversmith Alexander Dick
By Christine Erratt   |   February 2024   |   Vol 46 no 1

This article presents new information and some speculation relating to the prominent Sydney colonial silversmith Alexander Dick, whose works are found in many Australian public and private collections.

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Vol 45 no 4, Nov 2023
President's update
By Colin Thomas   |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4





Thank you to members who attended
the 2023 AGM in person and via Zoom.
From my perspective it was great to
catch up with members and present the
45th AGM of our wonderful Society. A copy of my President’s Report is
included in this magazine as is the
Financial...

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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
Annual Report of the Australiana Society 2023
By    |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4

... 







The 2023 financial year has proven to be another great year for the Society.
With the disaster that was COVID-

19 behind us, your board got to work at a national and state level to deliver
enhanced opportunities to benefit
me...

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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
William Milner and his ceramic legacy
By Gregory Hill   |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4




European immigrant William Milner was a little-known entrepreneur who established a porcelain manufacturing business after
arriving in Melbourne in 1911. The porcelain industry was largely driven by a massive need for electrical insulators, and, as
COVID-19 has demons...

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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
An enigmatic colonial sculpture
By Chris Tassell   |   November 2023   |   Vol 45 no 4




The earliest known free-standing, full-length sculpture created in Australia is a highly detailed sandstone statue of a well-dressed
colonial gentleman, urinating. Functionally plumbed, this statue is as extraordinary as it is enigmatic. Chris Tassell speculates on
who might have...

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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
President’s Update
By Colin Thomas   |   August 2023   |   Vol 45 no 3

As announced in the May issue, the 2024 National Tour will be held in and around Adelaide, South Australia. The organising committee has already secured visits to several private collections belonging to South Australian members and these will be combined with enhanced viewing of some sig...

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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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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.