Australiana, Vol 47 no 4, November 2025

In the August 2020 issue of Australiana, we wrote an article on the amateur watercolourist, James Coutts Crawford (1817–1889), an Englishman who visited Australia in 1845–46 and rented ‘ForestLodge’, an early colonial house in Glebe... Later he moved to New Zealand, where he became sheriff of Wellington, dying in London on a visit ‘home’. In Glebe, he painted several local landscape scenes that included some early identifiable buildings as well as some in the country areas he visited. While these watercolours are not of great artistic merit, Coutts Crawford’s views and panoramas record and complement the early colonial history of one of Sydney’s oldest suburbs. In June this year we alerted that more of his watercolours were in an upcoming Melbourne auction sale.

Described at the time as ‘the first of its kind produced in these colonies’, the wedding gown examined in this article embodies significance beyond its sartorial form; it constitutes a multi-faceted historical artefact positioned at the nexus of design, commerce, technology, identity and social history. Petrina Killey examines the gown's materiality, background and symbolic resonance within the colonial context.

In our May and August issues of 2025, siblings Jennifer and Lindsey Harris explored the cross-cultural influence ofJapanese craftsman Jonoski Takuma in his carving of Australian scenes on emu eggs around the time of Federation.Their articles led ornithologist and collector Dr Mark Cabouret to look very carefully at two emu eggs he located,where he discovered Takuma’s minute signatures.

The purchase of the former Goldfinders’ Home Inn at Kurrajong led owners Chris and Deborah Hallam to research their property, discovering that European habitation on the site began much earlier than initially believed. This inspired them to locate and document 160 early timber houses across the nation. The collation of this important project, Australia’s Earliest Timber Houses, is available free online and is intended to be an ongoing resource, with annual updates and future additions.

The young convict John Doody was an accomplished botanical artist whose fine watercolours, combined with Captain William Paterson’s annotations, were the first attempt to catalogue the flora of Norfolk Island. Though the drawings are unsigned, in a 1794 letter Paterson (plate 1) identified the artist as his young convict servant, ‘Jno Doody’. His were among the earliest botanical paintings produced in Australia. Paterson’s longer-term aim was to record and publish the flora and fauna of Norfolk Island in the hope that this would gain him admission as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He used Doody’s artistic skills to assist in achieving his objective.

Those of us with collections of brown furniture sometimes brighten up our display space with art, pottery or ceramics. Bob Fredman takes us through another option, decorative kerosene lamps, some of which were made in Australia. They are very interesting in their own right and when hung or placed in the right situation they can add some colour and character to a room.

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 ‘CamdenPark’, the large sheep property of Johnand Elizabeth Macarthur. The Dharawal people lived in this area for millennia.

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.

At the AGM, Annette Blinco becameour fifth Honorary Life Member, and the first woman to be honoured in this way. Annette Blinco has been involved with arts and cultural organisations for over 50 years.