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It was an absolute privilege at the recent Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be elected President of the Society. I am very humbled by the fact that the outgoing President Dr Jim Bertouch and Vice President Tim Cha nominated me for the role with the unanimous support of the outgoing Committee and State Chairs.
Lieutenant James Cook took various gifts on his voyages of discovery, to distribute to Indigenous people whom he might encounter. Peter Lane draws attention to the only example of one of Cook’s medals found in Australia, a memento of friendly contact between the European explorers and Indigenous Tasmanians in either 1773 or 1777.
British and Irish emigrant craftsmen working in early colonial New South Wales and Tasmania brought with them the Classical Revival style, with its sweeping curves and carved decoration. This elegant furniture, mostly in cedar, and inspired by the re-discovery of ancient civilisations, has many admirers. Bob Fredman discusses how he re-covered a Tasmanian Classical Revival cedar sofa, and some of the difficult decisions he had to make in the process.
Many collectors keep up their obsession for decades, but they don’t always begin as children. Luke Jones recounts his passion for collecting Australian toys over nearly 40 years, and how he turned that into a useful and well-illustrated reference book for other collectors.
German settlers in South Australia, notably in the Barossa and to a lesser extent in other parts of Australia, introduced a furniture style based on the rural carpentry traditions of their native lands, rather than the more common styles seen in Australia derived from British cabinetmaking. David Bedford and Richard Phillips review the common use of the term ‘Biedermeier’ to describe this style, and publish some examples attributed to the furniture workshop of the idiosyncratic cabinetmaker Carl Ewald ‘Gluepot’ Graetz (1865–1937) of Keyneton, South Australia.
Dublin-born William Paul Dowling (c 1822–1877) worked in London as a draftsman and artist before his Irish Nationalist political activities led to his being transported to Van Diemen’s Land for sedition. Here, the Irish Catholic convict established a reputation as a portrait artist, gradually adapting to the new technology of photography. For the first time, Robert Stevens combines a look at his life, well documented through the many letters he wrote home, with an analysis of his art and photography, to reveal the story of this talented Irish patriot who made a new life in Tasmania.
What better way to celebrate a golden wedding than with a golden gift that symbolises affection for the recipients, their intimate connection over 50 years and carries their monograms? Dianne Byrne explores the background to a pair of gold napkin rings presented to James and Charlotte Cowlishaw in Brisbane in 1912. Though marked, so far the marks have eluded us as to their maker.
Thank you for attending the 2020 AGM and it is a pleasure to present, albeit sadly... for me at least... my last report. 40th Anniversary Symposium Well I can say that we really started the year with a bang with the highly successful Australiana Symposium at the State Library in October 2019, which was well supported by our members and included a wide range of speakers and topics.
