State Library Victoria > La Trobe Journal

No 39 Autumn 1987

74

Select List of Accessions to the Picture Collection, 1985–1986

Throughout the past two years the Picture Collection has continued to acquire images reflecting and documenting the history of Victoria and the lives of her people. These images are in many forms, including oil paintings, watercolours, pencil sketches, photographs, glass and cellulose negatives, architectural drawings, posters and other printed materials. The following list describes some of the more significant items acquired by the Collection.
  • AH YEE family.
    • Set of sixty-six black and white photoprints relating to the Ah Yee family in Victoria, circa 1900 to 1983.
    • Presented by Mrs. Morag Loh, 1985. H85.35/1–66 This donation supplements our growing collection of visual records of Chinese families in Victoria, gathered with the assistance of Mrs. Morag Loh and the Australia-China Council.
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  • BALLYMERING Cattle Station, Port Phillip.
    • Sepia wash drawing of Ballymering Cattle Station, circa 1846–7.
    • Artist unknown.
    • Purchased, December 1984. H85.27
    • This view of the Balnarring Station, which was established on the western shore of Westernport Bay in 1840, is a significant addition to our small collection of contemporary images of the early years of settlement in the Port Phillip District.
  • BOYD, Arthur, artist.
    • Robert Lindsay. Oil on canvas. 1949.
    • Presented by the artist, 1986. H86.99
    • Robert Lindsay, the second eldest of the Lindsay family, was born in Creswick in 1872. The Library does not own any works by important postwar Victorian artists, so the gift of this work fills a significant gap in the collection, as well as adding to our examples of portraits of Victorians.
  • BULL, Norma, artist.
    • Batman's Landing. Etching. 1935.
    • Purchased, 1986. H86.40
    • Norma Bull was born in 1906 and died in September 1980. For over fifty years she lived with her brother, composer Richard Bull, in “Medlow”, a house built in Warrigal Road in 1889. The etching, a Centennial image, depicts Melbourne in 1935 and bears an inscription below the image reading “John Batman landed near this spot June 1835; This will be the place for a village.”
  • CAIRE, Nicholas, photographer.
    • Album containing twenty-eight albumen prints attributed to Nicholas Caire.
    • Circa 1879 to circa 1881. H86.100
    • Presented by Mr. Malcolm Smart, 1986.
    • These albumen prints complement the extensive collection of Caire photographs. Jack Cato, in his book The Story of the Camera in Australia (Georgian House, 1955) paid tribute to Caire's artistry, commenting that he had “imagination and feeling"and “an artist's sense of beauty”. Views of Fernshaw and other Victorian country areas are included among the prints.
  • [GOLDFIELDS diary of pencil sketches.]
    • Diary containing 172 pages of sketches, including three executed in watercolour.
    • Artist unknown. 1853 to 1857.
    • Purchased, 1985. H85.84
    • The sketches provide a valuable contemporary visual record of goldfields in Victoria and their denizens. Images include Caledonia Diggings, Kilmore, a view along the Merri Merri Creek and interiors of huts.
  • HENRY BERRY & CO., Wholesale Grocers.
    • Five illuminated addresses commemorating the 1909 jubilee of Henry Berry & Co., Wholesale Grocers. 1909. Transferred from the Australian Manuscripts Collection. H85.160/1–5
    • These came to the Library as part of a collection of manuscripts relating to Henry Berry & Co. They are striking examples of the art of the illuminated address and include one, prepared by the New Zealand branch of the company, bound in leather and featuring an elaborate wood-panelled cover bearing a jadite kiwi figure.
  • KURWIN, artist.
    • Camp No.2 Tatura Victoria, 1944. Watercolour. Hut 18/Tatura No.2, 1945. Watercolour. Walking Party (Internment Camp) Tatura, 1943.
    • Watercolour.
    • Purchased, 1985.
    • These watercolours provide an extremely rare contemporary visual record of the Tatura Internment Camp. They complement a collection of manuscript material on the Tatura camp presented to the Australian Manuscript Collection in 1983.
  • LEASON, Percy, artist.
    • [Eleven portraits in oils of full-blood aboriginals from the Lake Tyers district of East Gippsland.] 1934. Presented by Mrs. E. Baillieu, 1986. H86.82/1–11 Percy Leason, born in Kaniva, Victoria in 1889, became well known as a painter, cartoonist, illustrator and teacher. This collection of eleven portraits adds to the Library's existing collection of Leason's works presented by his widow which includes cartoons, book illustrations and oil paintings of aborigines.
  • McCRAE, Georgiana, artist.
    • Tanti — Pt. Phillip Bay. Watercolour and pencil. Circa 1846 — circa 1849.
    • Purchased, 1986. H86.121
    • Georgiana McCrae, wife of Andrew Murison McCrae, will be well known to most readers of La Trobe Library Journal through her diary Georgiana's journal. This is a rather crude drawing compared with the technical skill shown in her fine 1841 watercolour portrait of Octavius Browne, purchased in 1984.
  • McCUBBIN, Charles, artist.
    • Three bookplates designed by Charles McCubbin for the library of Dr. Norman Wettenhall. Undated. Presented by Dr. Norman Wettenhall, 1985. H85.80/1–3
    • These bookplates, designed by painter and natural history artist Charles McCubbin, will enhance the small collection of bookplates held by the Picture Collection.
  • McKAY family.
    • Collection of thirty-one photoprints relating to the McKay family and Australians at war in the Middle East, circa 1939 — circa 1945.
    • Copied from originals lent by Mrs. F. McKay, 1985. H85.36/1–31
    • The picture Collection relies heavily on the generosity of those willing to lend material for copying. Family photographs are an important source of the images of daily life that are not generally recorded in formal photographs.
  • MATTHEW FLINDERS MEASURED DRAWING COMPETITION.
    • Two hundred and seventy-one sheets of measured drawings comprising the 1984 and 1985 entries to the competition.
    • Presented by the Historic Buildings Council, 1985 and 1986. H85.86/1–159 & H86.8/1–112
    • This annual competition results in the prize winners’ drawings being deposited with the Picture Collection. They are used heavily by architects, students of architecture, publishers and those engaged in the restoration of historic buildings.
  • MAY, Phil, artist.
    • Dr. Bromby. Pen and ink. Circa 1886–1888.
    • The Phoenix. Pen and ink. Circa 1886–1888.
    • Presented by the Friends of the State Library of Victoria, 1985.
    • Phil May was a black-and-white artist born in England in 1864. The two caricatures are believed to have been drawn during his visit to Australia. While in Australia, May was employed as an artist on the Sydney Bulletin and has been credited with establishing the high standards of draughtsmanship to be seen in the work of other Bulletin artists of that era.
  • PANTON, Joseph Anderson, artist.
    • First Government Residence Melbourne, 1837. Oil on canvas. 1880.
    • Purchased 1986. H86.27
    • Joseph Anderson Panton was born in Scotland in 1831, arriving in Australia in 1851. The painting was based on a small sketch by Phillip Parker King which is now held in the Mitchell Library.
  • PREVOST, Dyranda, photographer.
    • Chicken at a price. Twenty-four gelatin silver photographs. 1984.
    • Purchased 1986.
    • This series shows migrant women on a chicken processing assembly line in a factory. Its importance lies in its contemporary documentation of women in the workplace and factory interiors, and contrasts with more formal, posed factory interiors in the Harold Paynting Collection.
  • RACING posters.
    • Three posters advertising the following race meetings:
    • Ballarat Miners’ Races… 1912. Printed by Tulloch & King, 1912.
    • Hamilton and District Trotting Club opening meeting … 1920. Printed by Troedel & Co., 1920.
    • Western District Race Season, December to July 1925. Printed by Troedel & Cooper Pty. Ltd., 1925.
    • Purchased 1986. H87.13/1–3
    • These three posters complement our small but significant collection of images relating to racing in Victoria. They also comprise an appropriate addition to the large number of posters printed by Troedel and Cooper.
  • SHORT, Henry, artist.
    • In Memory of the Lamented Heroes of the Victorian Expedition, 1861.
    • Oil on canvas. 1861.
    • Purchased with the assistance of the Friends, 1986. H86.106
    • This still life with flowers and fruit makes allegorical and visual references to the fate of Burke, Wills and Gray. A silver chalice has the explorers’ portraits in miniature embedded in it. Designed to be read in typical nineteenth century manner, it is an important document in the history of painting in Victoria and complements the Library's extensive collection of Burke and Wills memorabilia.
  • SOLOMON, Abraham, artist.
    • The Departure — Second Class. Engraving. 1857.
    • The Return — First Class. Engraving. 1857.
    • Purchased 1985. H85.76/1–2
    • These two engravings by W. H. Simmons after paintings by Abraham Solomon are emigration pictures. An oil version of The Departure is now in the Australian National Gallery. The Departure — Second Class shows a family bidding farewell to an emigrant bound for Port Phillip, while The Return — First Class refers to an affluence which might be expected from a sojourn in a colony made rich by gold.
  • SPRAGUE, Leslie, artist.
    • Naturalist — Burke and Wills series. Etching. 1983.
    • Two explorers, with evidence of life on a sandhill — Burke and Wills series. Etching. 1982.
    • Towards base camp — Burke and Wills series. Screenprint. 1982.
    • Purchased 1986. H86.117/1–3
    • All three works have been directly influenced by the work of Ludwig Becker, official artist, scientist and geologist to the Burke and Wills expedition. Naturalist and Two explorers … incorporate impressions of Becker's notebook jottings. These etchings illustrate the preoccupation of today's artist with old themes. Needed to fill a gap is a work on the same subject by Sidney Nolan.
  • SPRAGUE, Leslie, artist.
    • Maralinga dreaming. Screenprint/lithograph. 1983.
    • Purchased 1986. H86.117/4
    • This work includes a silhouette frieze of an aboriginal corroboree, based directly on the work of Tommy McCrae, an aboriginal of one of the Murray River Tribes. He was active in the 1860s and is represented in the Picture Collection by fifteen original sketches and a sketchbook.
  • WHYTE, William, photographer.
    • Fifteen black and white negatives showing celebrations and decorations in Melbourne for the opening of the Olympic Games in 1956.
    • Presented by the photographer, December 1984. H85.24/1–15
    • The Library's holdings of images relating to more recent historical events are limited.
  • WILSON, Charles, artist.
    • Folio containing five portrait etchings based on the life of Percy Grainger. 1980.
    • Purchased 1985. H85.177/1–5
    • Percy Grainger, pianist and composer, was trained at an early age in painting and drawing but later focused on a musical career. Prior to the purchase of this folio, the Picture Collection held only one image of Percy Grainger — a photographic postcard sent by his mother to photographer May Moore.
  • WILSON, Dora, artist.
    • St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Lonsdale St., Melbourne. Oil on canvas. Circa 1935.
    • St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Lonsdale St., Melbourne. Oil on canvas. 1920s.
    • Bequest from the estate of the late Teresa Mary Wardell. 1985. H85.108/1–2
    • Dora Wilson came to Australia as a child, having been born in England in 1883, and became known mainly for her rendering of Melbourne street scenes. St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Melbourne, was designed by Samuel Jackson and erected in 1841 to 1845. It is recognised as the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Victoria. These works were probably exhibited in Wilson's Centennial exhibition.
  • WOODHOUSE, Frederick Jnr., artist.
    • Carbine. Oil on canvas. 1889.
    • Presented by Mr. Sam Fullbrook, 1986. H86.111
    • Carbine remains today one of the great legends of the Australian turf, achieving thirty-three wins from forty-three starts. The artist was born in 1848 into a family of sporting painters, several of whom are represented in the Picture Collection. Frederick Jnr. learned animal painting from his father and became a successful sporting painter, specialising in racehorses.