Search results for 'Glenn R. Cooke'

Matchstick Craft at Ipswich Art Gallery

Glenn R Cooke (1946–2025) was a generous donor to the Ipswich Art Gallery, which wanted to pay homage to his generosity, idiosyncratic collecting and endless curiosity and humour. The Gallery’s response was a display showcasing a selection of donated objects fashioned out of matchsticks.

A Visit to the Cowpastures

Fifty-five society members enjoyed an excellent day visiting three historical properties in the Cobbitty area, on Sydney’s semi-rural western fringe, onSunday 12 October 2025. Once known as the Cowpastures on the colonial frontier of British settlement, the area was probably best known for ‘Camden...

President’s update

Thank you to members who provided feedback on the proposed changes toour national tour registration procedures, detailed in May Australiana. Many members advised that they understood the constraints of having limited places on these much sought-after tours, mostly of private h...

A Japanese artist in Australia: Jonoski Takuma and his family

Jonoski Takuma, a young, missionary-educated Japanese man, arrived in Australia in 1888 and within a few years began engraving emu eggs depicting Australian scenes. Reflecting his Japanese cultural heritage, these delicately carved eggs,along with postcards and a children’s book, embody a fusion of Japanese a...

Phyllis Murphy 1924–2025

Dr Phyllis Murphy AM, a long-time member of the Australiana Society, died in May, just a few weeks short of her 101st birthday. Born Phyllis Slater in Melbourne in 1924,Phyllis developed a strong interest in buildings and design from an early age. Her son Jock Murphy records her architectural work and her ...

President’s update

What an outstanding success the 2024
national tour of Victoria was!
Victorian branch chair Robert Stevens
and his team did an absolutely fantastic
job in every regard. From venue selection,
menu selection, to negotiating the best
possible deal with all providers, nothing
more could possibly have been wis...

Remembering Glenn R Cooke 1946 – 2025

Frequent contributor to Australiana and former curator at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA),
Glenn R Cooke, died in January. Australiana editor John Wade encapsulates Glenn’s immense influence, drawing on the
orations at his memorial in Brisban...

A Leaf out of Glenn’s Book

Acanthus leaves have been used as decoration in buildings, furniture and pottery since the birth of western architecture.
They were often a decorative feature on Australia’s early Neo-Classical furniture until the advent of Australian themes
towards the end of the 19th century. Bob Fredman discusses the use...

Australiana Society visit to Fairfield Tasmania

Ginni Woof reports on the Australiana Society visit to Fairfield at Cressy in north-east Tasmania, about 30 km south of Launceston, in December.

President’s update

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 ...

John Wilson Carey, cabinetmaker and saw-miller

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...

Australian Toys 1880–1965: The Luke Jones Collection

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

Australian filet crochet, The Weekly Times book of patterns

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...

A Silver Mug by Joseph Forrester

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....

Knud Geelmuyden Bull (1811–1889), Norwegian-born convict artist

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...

Book Reviews

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...

The Lahey Project: recording the oeuvre of a prominent Queensland artist

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...

What makes an exhibition remarkable?

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...

Wedgwood: Master Potter to the Universe

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...

The York Street Synagogue Ark

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...

Book Review: Ron Radford, John Glover. Patterdale Farm and the Revelation of the Australian Landscape

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...

The workshop of Sydney silversmith William Kerr

A descendant of his sister Rebecca wrote about William Kerr in Australiana over 20 years ago, presenting new material obtained from family sources.1 With the help of other descendants, Yvonne Barber expands on this earlier work, beginning with the apprenticeship of William Kerr. She provides det...

Early Sydney silver flatware

Four early Australian silver flatware items – two spoons and two forks – engraved with the three initials ‘WEB’ present a challenge warranting research. Whose engraved initials (WEB) are they and when were the items made and engraved? Christine Erratt offers an answer. Four flatware1items with...

Peter Harley: Queensland Folk Wood Carver

A quite remarkable amount of wood-carving was produced in Australia, in the framework of the Arts and Crafts movement, at the beginning of the 20th century which is, and remains, unidentified. If we don’t have a provenance we can look at stylistically similar works, such as Queensland’s Harvey School,...

President’s Update

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...

The Paris Exposition Universelle, the Suez Canal and a Gold Sphinx Brooch

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...

Queensland to a T Collection and Exhibition, State Library of Queensland

Prodigious Australiana contributor Glenn R. Cooke is well known through his professional interests in Queensland art, decorative arts and social history. But that does not define Glenn; he loves ballroom dancing and gardens, as well as pursuing a sideline in collecting artefacts relating to his home stat...

Considering a Curious Carving

Artists draw inspiration from many sources. Glenn Cooke examines at how a 20th-century Queensland wood carver took his design inspiration from an historical French pottery plaque some 400 years old, finding what seems to be the exact example he used.

H C Simpson and his popular art

While the artist H. C. Simpson (1879–1966) depicted subjects such as Mount Warning in northern NSW, his output is emphatically linked with the early years of the ‘Gold Coast’ and specifically the resort towns of Coolangatta, Currumbin and Tweed Heads. Although his work is not held in particularl...

1950s souvenir jewellery and art with Indigenous motifs

Finding more examples of the silver brooch with Indigenous motifs that she discussed in our May issue, Christine Erratt delved further into their history. In the National Archives of Australia, Christine uncovered the 1954 design registration applications.
Six different designs, of which five were inspired b...

Breaking the mould

Wet conditions in humid climates, and especially with the recent floods in eastern Australia, exacerbate the problem of household damp and mould. For collectors, this is likely to affect sensitive items, such as furniture and works of art on paper. So remember to check your collection regularly, and follow some...

Trevor John Kennedy AM 24.6.1942 – 28.11.2021

Lesley Garrett, a long-standing family friend, fondly recalls Trevor Kennedy's life and passion for collecting, amassing the most important collection of Australian decorative arts ever assembled... Anne Schofield, the source of much of the spectacular jewellery acquired for his collection, has her own distinct...

Henning Rathjen: Victorian art potter 1948–1968

In the aftermath of World War II, many commercial potteries were established in Australia to satisfy the market disrupted by hostilities, particularly for Japanese and European imports. While some of these new commercial potteries were established by immigrants from war-ravaged Europe, Henning Alfred Rathjen (1...

Through the looking glass – identifying W. H. Rocke & Co’s second Melbourne International Exhibition 1880 drawing-room cabinet

Objects and art shown at international exhibitions always attract a premium. Often, they really were ‘showpieces’, specially made to demonstrate the maker’s skills, ability and cutting-edge design. Three room suites of W. H. Rocke’s furniture displayed at the prestigious Melbourne International Exhibiti...

Peter Walker Fine Art Writing Award 2021

Peter Walker Fine Art established our annual Writing Award in 1999 to encourage writing for Australiana. At that time Australiana was a 32-page magazine, stapled, with three to five articles and a few black-and-white illustrations per issue. Twenty-two years on, the award has achieved its objectives. The Austra...

President’s Update

I trust all members had an enjoyable festive season with the family and friends they were fortunate enough to be able to see. As I have stated all too often, COVID never ceases to amaze with the number of twists and turns it continues to deliver. Who would have ever thought that, with the vaccination levels mos...

Australiana Society tours 2021: Ballarat and Camperdown Tour

Australiana Society members visited the Ballarat region of Victoria in May, as part of a tour carefully planned by Victorian branch chair Robert Stevens. Luckily, it fell into a gap between COVID lockdowns, and gave members from several states a chance to get out, mingle and enjoy what the Victorian Central Gol...

Allen Duckworth, woodworker and native timbers crusader

In the preceding article, David Bedford identified four Australian manufacturers of cribbage boards: Grose Manufacturing Co of Brisbane; Clipsal, a brand name of Gerard Industries in Adelaide; John Sands & Co, founded in Sydney as Sands & Kenny in 1851; and Crown Mulga made by A.W.G. Davey & Sons Lt...

‘Angels in the Studio’ in Western Australia part 3: Passing through

Continuing our story of the women artists working in Western Australia before World War I, we will now turn to three ‘Angels’ who came, saw and conquered, but did not stay. They were all single, peripatetic, somewhat bohemian and left their mark in several societies. Marie Anne Tuck (1866–1947); Florence ...

Don Ross, artist and craft worker

A friend of mine wanted to see a mosaic mural in the Crypt at Anzac Square in Brisbane (now operated by the State Library of Queensland). For most of the year it is protected by an information panel, but the mural is on view for just two weeks in January ― the month when the artist and craft worker Don Ross (...

German wood carvers in Tasmania

In the 1930s, Henry McPherson, a former Clerk of the House of Assembly, told this story about William Peter Briggs, an employee of Whitesides, and the 1856 Governor’s (now President’s) Chair... This story is apocryphal. Though we normally think foremost of German immigration to South Australia, a German shi...

The Goulds in Tasmania

In 1832, John Gould produced A Century of birds from the Himalaya Mountains, the plates ‘drawn from nature and on stone by E. Gould’, and five years later, five volumes on the birds of Europe with 448 lithographic plates, most by Elizabeth Gould with 68 by Edward Lear. The bird specimens his brothers- in-la...

James Cook’s Killora 'Resolution' and 'Adventure' medal

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...

Tasmanian Magnificence part 2

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 Fr...

James and Charlotte Cowlishaw’s ‘Golden Wedding’ Napkin Rings, c 1912

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 1...

Hunting for Mr. Beauchamp

Among many contributions to the first "Virtual Show and Tell" was a portrait of a young boy. The owner asked who the artist might be, so the compilers flicked it to me to ask whom we should consult. It turned out to be a fascinating research project, and I want to share the process with readers.

Daniel Cooper's 1856 Foundation Stone Box

In 1856, Governor Denison laid the foundation stone for Daniel Cooper's Woollahra House at Point Piper. The stone was designed to hold an engraved copper box containing coins and a medal. This box was re-used for the foundation ceremony of a later Woollahra House in 1883, and unearthed when it was demolished in...

The Buck Jumper, an early sculpture by Harold Parker

Previously thought lost, this iconic Australian image – a large double-sided painted timber carving of a buck jumper made in 1893/4 by renowned Queensland sculptor Harold Parker – was made as an advertising sign for the Brisbane saddlery of R.E. Jarman. After it re-emerged in 2011 at a Sydney auction, Adam ...

The founding years of Harvey School pottery 1916-1922: completing the story

Australiana is often defined by the combination of local materials, local motifs and local skills to create art that is distinctively and recognisably Australian. The Harvey School of pottery making, which flourished at the Central Technical College in Brisbane from 1916 for more than thirty years is one of the...

An unrecorded miniature by Ludwig Becker

Dr Gary Morgan’s research into a recently re-discovered Tasmanian miniature, reported here for the first time, identifies – partly by using new facial recognition technology – that it is a memento of a Tasmanian colonial family, as well as shedding new light on the technique of the artist, Ludwig Becker.