A House of Treasures: The David Roche Foundation House Museum.

Speaker: Robert Reason, Museum Director, The David Roche Foundation. LINK TO THE RECORDING OF THIS LECTURE

A new private house museum for Australia opened its doors to the public in June 2016 containing the lifework of passionate Adelaide collector and international dog judge and exhibitor, David Roche AM (1930-2013). This talk will explore his home Fermoy House and its interiors which can be adeptly described as a compressed version of an English country home. Some of his remarkable collection of English, French and Russian art from the eighteenth to early twentieth century will be examined focusing particularly on the rococo and neoclassic periods. See also highlights from the temporary exhibition programme including current exhibition Wedgwood: Master potter to the Universe.

‘The Story of Beleura’  Link to the recording of this lecture

Beleura is an Italianate-style villa located in Mornington, Victoria. It was built in 1865 on the traditional lands of the Boon Wurrung/Bunurong people for James Butchart, a stock and station agent who created a thriving and prosperous business during the Victorian Gold Rush. This talk looks at the families who lived at Beleura including the Tallis family who made their fortune in the entertainment and theatre world of Victorian Melbourne as well as the special collections held by Beleura.

Guest Speaker: Martin Green

Martin Green has worked in heritage tourism and the museum sector for 24 years. For over twelve years he was the Education, Collections and Interpretations manager at the National Trust working at Rippon Lea, the Old Melbourne Gaol, and the Polly Woodside Tall Ship. He has worked on a variety of costume exhibitions including the Miss Fisher Murder Mystery costume series. Previously he worked for ABC TV as a Producer in education and the arts as well as for ACMI and their Digital Story series.

Image details courtesy of Beleura House & Garden.

In the fourth Online Lecture of our 2023 series, Professor Tim Entwisle will talk about his life as a botanist and in botanic gardens, based on his memoir published last year by Thames & Hudson, Evergreen: The Botanical Life of a Plant Punk. Tim Entwisle believes botanic gardens address the key threats of our time, such as climate change and plant extinction, while simultaneously serving up gorgeous landscapes and offering a balm to the weary human spirit. After 25 years as a director at some of the world’s finest botanic gardens – in Sydney, London and Melbourne – his conclusion is that botanic gardens are a cure for the world’s ills. Evergreen also reveals the noisy soundtrack to Tim Entwisle’s life, why he prefers nature found kerbside rather than in the wild, and how he comes to have an alga (seaweed) named after him. Above all, it’s an ode to what Tim describes as a powerful mix of nature, science and culture.

Link to recorded Lecture

Image detail: Courtesy of Professor Tim Entwisle.

The third of our 2023 Online Lecture series will focus on Canberra.

Canberra has been factored in to various formulations of Australian modernism/modernity, from the earliest formulations of the purposes the national capital should serve, the contending visions of an international design competition for an ‘ideal city’, the tensions between garden city and a city beautiful ideals through to challenges of adapting a subsidised project to the demands of viable self-governing economy. In between there are the very distinctive registers of the experiment the city represented in the post- World War II decades.

This lecture will offer reflections on ways in which we might make connections between the personal, social, aesthetic and political of this period, and reflect on its historical significance.

Speakers: Professor Nicholas Brown

Nicholas Brown is a professor in the School of History in the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the Australian National University. In 2014 Cambridge University Press published his History of Canberra, and he has maintained an interest in the history of the city and its place in the wider national story. He is convenor of the Canberra Museum and Gallery advisory committee, and has served on the ACT Heritage Council. t

Link to the recorded lecture

Image: Government House, Yarralumla, from the National Arboretum Canberra. Image© Wendy McDougall Photographer

Speaker: Dr Anne Watson

Title: ‘Marion’s Nature – Marion Mahony Griffin as Pioneering Environmentalist’

Marion Mahony Griffin, architect and artist, was one of the first licensed female architects in the world.

The South Australian Committee have pleasure in inviting you to a Christmas Cocktail Reception.

This is an event for Australiana Fund Members and invited guests.

To request the online booking details use the CONTACT form on this website

3rd Narratives of Nations

Lecture recordings s online now.

BOOKINGS VIA EVENTBRITE

Speaker: John McPhee

Title: Australian timbers: a history of their use in cabinetmaking

Abstract: With special reference to examples in the Australiana Fund collection, this talk will look at the discovery, use of, and fashion for Australian timbers in cabinetmaking.

Speaker: John McPhee

John McPhee, the inaugural Director of Fine Arts for the Australiana Fund and Fine Art Advisor to the Committee on Official Establishments, 1978-1979, and the inaugural Curator of Australian Decorative Arts and Senior Curator of Australian art, at the National Gallery of Australia, 1980-1992.

Joseph Sly, England/Australia, 1803– 1887, arrived 1834,
Pair of bookcases,
Sydney, New South Wales, c.1845,
red cedar, glass, each 122.5 x 294.5 x 47 cm.
Purchased 1979. 1979.15.1–2
©Wendy McDougall Photography

Coriyule is one of Victoria’s most important historic houses. Constructed in 1849 for two Lady Squatters, Anne Drysdale and Caroline Newcombe, the house is constructed from local stone. Their architect, Charles Laing, created an unusual house with many features pertinent to their needs and the challenges of the times.

Purchased in 2007, the property was a ruin and the garden was derelict. Over the last 20 years our hosts for the afternoon, Australiana Fund Members Isobel Williams and Bryce Raworth, have meticulously restored and renovated the house and transformed the garden into a feast of trees, wonderful plantings of Australian natives, exotics and vegetable gardens.

Thanks to their enormous generosity, Australiana Fund members and guests are invited to take a second look at their property which The Fund last visited in 2013, following completion of the first stage of the building and garden works.

Please join us for a special afternoon of fun and festivities. Bring your tennis gear and make a game!

Enjoy afternoon tea from 3pm and local wines from the Bellarine Peninsula which will feature on the drinks trolley.

Children (and grandchildren) under 15 are free!

To request online booking details use the CONTACT Form on this website.

BOOKINGS VIA EVENTBRITE

Speaker: Dr Catriona Quinn, Researcher and academic, UNSW Sydney.

Title: The Emergence of the Australian Interior Designer: Craft, Commerce and Interdisciplinary Practices, 1920-1945

Abstract: The 1920s and 1930s were a crucial time for the development of new design occupations, including interior decoration, which offered fresh opportunities in commerce and self-expression for women. The links between craft and design were crucial to this transitional phase of emergent occupations, when interdisciplinary practices flourished. This talk looks at individual designers such as Thea Proctor, Marion Hall Best, Margo Lewers and May Coulson through the lense of key themes: the gendering of craft and design practices, the global circulation of ideas and the implications of European diaspora. The fluidity between interwar craft and design practices, it is argued, connects this seminal era with contemporary tensions in design disciplines and the gendering of ‘female’ occupations which underpins biased historical narratives.

Speaker: Dr Catriona Quinn, Researcher and academic, UNSW Sydney.

Dr Catriona Quinn researches and teaches design history at UNSW Sydney. A former curator at Sydney Living Museums, she developed the first retrospective exhibition on an Australian interior designer, Marion Hall Best, in 1993. Catriona has published and lectured widely on interior design history, including recent chapters in The Other Moderns: Sydney’s Forgotten European Design Legacy (2017) and Margo Lewers: No Limits (2022) and was twice awarded bursaries by the Design History Society to present at their international conferences. Her 2021 PhD on the role of the client in postwar interior design won UNSW’s J.M. Freeland Prize for Significant Research Contribution. 3.

BOOKINGS VIA EVENTBRITE

Speaker: Dr Andrew Montana

Title: From international exhibitions to Ruth Lane-Poole’s Federal Capital commission: W. H. Rocke & Co., and the crafting of taste and tradition with Australian timbers in Melbourne and Canberra.

Abstract: Established in Melbourne in the 1860s, W. H. Rocke & Co. was Victoria’s successful and largest furniture manufacturer and crafted stylish and impressive furniture to showcase Australian timbers for international exhibitions in Australia and London. This quality firm worked until the early 1930s and was responsible for some of the cabinetry and upholstery work of Canberra’s Official Residences under the direction of Ruth Lane-Poole. Casting the context wider, this well-illustrated presentation showcases Rocke & Co.’s work, and the interest in the revival of historic, British styles in Australian timbers, long championed by Lane-Poole and her associates from Melbourne.

Speaker: Dr Andrew Montana

An Honorary Research Fellow, Dr Andrew Montana was a senior lecturer in art and design for almost twenty years at the Australian National University. In 2013, he was the curator of the exhibition Australia Revealed: Decorative Arts from The Australiana Fund. The author of books, chapters and articles, he engages with the intersection of art, architecture, design and the decorative arts in his ongoing research. Most recently, Andrew has contributed two chapters on the Australian decorators Lyon, Cottier & Co. to the book Daniel Cottier: Designer, Decorator, Dealer, published with Yale through the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, 2021. He was awarded the Ivan Barko award for his published research in the French Australian Review.

The Queensland Committee of The Australiana Fund invite you for drinks and canapés and to view an exhibition of recent works by Cressida Campbell at Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane.

Guest speaker Simon Elliott, Deputy Director of QAGOMA, will talk about the work and career of this important Australian artist.

We hope you will join us for this exclusive event at Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane.

A major survey exhibition of Campbell's work is scheduled to open in September 2022 at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

Funds raised will go towards The Australiana Fund's programme of new acquisitions and maintenance of our historic and culturally significant collection of Australian artworks on loan for display and use in the four Official Residences of the Governor-General and Prime Minister of Australia.

To request online booking details use the CONTACT Form on this website.

BOOKINGS VIA EVENTBRITE

Speaker: Margaret Betteridge

Title: Ruth Lane Poole - A Woman of Influence

Margaret was introduced to the work of Ruth Lane-Poole in 1986 on taking up her role as Honorary Adviser, Fine Arts and Gifts in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She came to appreciate Ruth's work in the historical context of decorating and furnishing Government House and The Lodge in 1927. In 2021 Margaret curated the exhibition, Ruth Lane-Poole: A Woman of Influence, at Canberra Museum and Gallery which brought together insights into her Irish family connections and her decorating philosophy. For the first time, examples of the furniture, silver and china she commissioned for the official residences in 1926-27 were seen together in the context of her work.

With the Governor-General and the Prime Minister successfully installed in their official residences in Canberra in time for the opening of Federal Parliament on 9 May 1927, the Federal Capital Commission’s ‘Furniture Specialist’, Ruth Lane-Poole, could reflect on the task she had just completed. With great pride, she noted that ‘there is not one piece in the houses made of imported timber.’ No doubt encouraged by her husband, Charles Lane-Poole, the Commonwealth’s senior forester, she chose Australian native timbers to suit the traditional period styles of furniture she considered appropriate for the functional requirements of the houses and their occupants.

Speaker: Margaret Betteridge, Director Betteridge Heritage, freelance heritage and decorative arts consultant

A post-graduate scholar in museum studies at the University of Leicester, Margaret was the founding curator of the Royal Mint and Hyde Park Barracks Museums for Sydney's Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. In 1986 she was appointed to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to manage the collections of contents in the Australian Government's official residences. Since 1994, Margaret has enjoyed the diversity of collections management and curatorial enterprise projects with clients in the public domain working on wide ranging projects across Australia and New Zealand. She has the privilege of on-going work with all tiers of government and with private and public organisations to deliver award-winning results. Her clients include (but not limited to) the NSW Government (Public Works Advisory, Property and Development NSW and Heritage NSW), City of Sydney and Sydney Living Museums. She is passionate about the use of Australian flora and its adaptation as a decorative language in design, art and craft.

Bookings: Eventbrite

Speaker: Jennifer Sanders, Chair The Australiana Fund

Title: The Governor-General’s Xylotheque

In 1918, Richard Baker, Curator/Director of the Technological Museum, Sydney, presented His Excellency Sir Ronald Crauford Munro Ferguson P.C. G.C. M.C., Governor-General of Australia with a collection of 100 ‘dummy’ books each carved out of an Australian timber with the botanical name on the spine of the timber sample. Carved by renowned timber carver, Frederick W. Tod, each volume represents not only the refined cabinetmaking skills of Tod but also the richness and potential of Australia’s native forests.

More than a gift, this timber ‘library’ or xylotheque was the embodiment of the deep respect Baker had for Munro Ferguson, who was himself a forester. The respect was mutual – Baker, an Economic Botanist was a leading figure in a distinguished group of botanists who researched and classified the botanical resources of the new southern land of Australia, following in the footsteps of Sir Joseph Banks.

This paper throws new light on the influence and connections of Munro Ferguson, Governor-General throughout World War 1and, an advocate for a sustainable Australian timber industry.

Located in the heart of the University of Sydney, our private talk and tour will be led by museum’s expert team followed by refreshments on the beautiful terrace overlooking the gardens.

To request online booking details use the CONTACT Form on this website.

The South Australia Committee of The Australiana Fund takes pleasure in inviting you to a Christmas Cocktail Reception and Private View.

This is an event for Australiana Fund Members and invited guests.

To request the online booking details use the CONTACT form on this website

The Australiana Fund’s 3rd Narratives of Nations Symposium

Symposium Bookings

The Symposium ticket includes refreshments and lunch.

For the full details please refer to the separate programme information (to be published soon)

9:30am Registration commences

10:00am 3rd Narratives of Nations Symposium commences

This year, to coincide with the major exhibition at Canberra Museum & Gallery our theme is Australian Timbers. Topics and guest speakers will include:

Australian Timbers and Cabinetmaking, with specific reference to examples in The Australiana Fund Collection. Presented by John McPhee, the inaugural Director of Fine Arts for the Australiana Fund and Fine Art Advisor to the Committee on Official Establishments, 1978-1979, and the inaugural Curator of Australian Decorative Arts and Senior Curator of Australian art, at the National Gallery of Australia, 1980-1992.

Ruth Lane-Poole: A Woman of Influence by Margaret Betteridge, Fine Arts Advisor to the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet and Honorary Fine Art Advisor to The Australiana Fund (1986-1993). Since 1993, she has worked as a heritage consultant. Most recently she has curated the upcoming exhibition Ruth Lane-Poole: A Woman of Influence at Canberra Museum & Gallery.

Dr Andrew Montana, senior research fellow with the Australian National University specialising in the art and design of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, will talk about W. H. Rocke & Co. Established in Melbourne in the 1860s, W. H. Rocke & Co. was Victoria's largest and most successful furniture manufactures, and often crafted stylish, impressive and expensive furniture to showcase Australian timbers for international exhibitions in Australia and London. This quality firm worked until the early 1930s and was responsible for some of the cabinetry and upholstery work of Canberra's official residences under the direction of Ruth Lane-Poole, and for (old) Parliament House during the 1920s.

Ruth Lane-Poole’s influence on Australian Interior Design by Catriona Quinn, former curator at Sydney Living Museums, best known for her expertise in 20th century Australian interior design and decoration.

The Significance and History of The Australiana Fund’s recent acquisition, The Munro Ferguson Timber Library by Jennifer Sanders, currently Chair of The Australiana Fund. Former Deputy Director at the Powerhouse Museum (2001–2009), after rising from curator in 1978 to senior curator, decorative arts & design, and Assistant Director Collections in 1988.

Symposium concludes.

2.30pm: Viewing of National Library of Australia exhibitions: Treasures Gallery & A Nation Imagined: the Picturesque Atlas of Australia. Alternatively, conduct your own ‘at leisure’ visits to NPG, NGA, National Archives, Museum of Australiana Democracy at Old Parliament House (MOAD).

Cocktail Party & Private viewing - "Collecting: a personal view” at the New Gallery"