Go back in time with Brisbane’s two finest craftsmen

 
Posted by Elliott Murray   ●   7 Aug 2022

There is little furniture from the Arts and Crafts period in Queensland that can match the fluid carving of the art nouveau foliate motifs in this hallstand from the 1920s, the scale and workmanship bears the mark of two of Queensland’s finest craftsmen — John Merten and Lewis Jarvis (LJ) Harvey.

John Merten (1861-1932) was born in Germany and records show that he was one of the most talented apprentices of his year. Merten arrived in Brisbane with his family in 1887 and commenced business as a cabinetmaker in Stanley Street, South Brisbane, and by 1888 was awarded a First Order of Merit for a walnut box and a black bean and pine writing desk at his first exhibition.

The most consistent exhibition venue for cabinetmakers in Brisbane from the late nineteenth century was the annual exhibition of the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association and when Merten exhibited in the ‘artisan’ section his furniture was always highly praised. Between 1888 and 1931 Merten exhibited workboxes, bookcases, sideboards, writing desks, and several suites of dining and bedroom furniture.

DELVE DEEPER: Discover more fascinating Queensland Stories

National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland

Bowen Park (now known as the Brisbane Showgrounds) was the site for the first Queensland Intercolonial Exhibition in 1876, the exhibition was organised to promote the state’s agricultural, pastoral, and industrial resources, including showcasing local arts and crafts, and manufactured goods. The park was bordered by Bowen Bridge Road, O’Connell Terrace, Brookes Street and Gregory Terrace and the month of August was chosen as ideal due to its generally fine weather, it avoided any clashes with local shows, stock feed was available, and it was before the spring shearing season. 

Queensland resources and produce on display

Minerals from Central Queensland on display, c.1900 / 43948 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
A range of drinks, including a display by Castlemaine Brewery, c.1900 / 43985 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Harrison’s jams and jellies display: First Order of Merit Prize, 1903 / 4225 / Courtesy: Queensland University of Technology

With the success in attracting 17,000 visitors on opening day when Brisbane’s population at the time was just 22,000, the exhibition became a permanent fixture in Brisbane’s social calendar. Brisbane’s first Exhibition Building at Bowen Hills (illustrated) used by the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association was destroyed by fire on 13 June 1888 and was replaced by the current Exhibition Building and Concert Hall (Old Museum Building) (illustrated). The current building was built in 1891, however the Queensland Government took control of the building and grounds when the National Association was forced into liquidation by the economic depression in 1897.

Fine Arts on display in the original Exhibition Building, 1886-87

Fine Arts on display in the original Exhibition Building during the inaugural Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association Exhibition, 1876 / 110220 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Displays in the original Exhibition Building during the second Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association Exhibition, 1877 / 15769 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Brisbane Showground Exhibition Building, destroyed 1888

Original Exhibition Building used by the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association at Bowen Hills, Brisbane, c. 1877 / 61133 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Exhibition Building (Old Museum Building), built 1891

The current Exhibition Building at Bowen Hills, Brisbane, c.1900/ 182289 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Main arena, 1896

Main arena at the National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland, 1896 / 160063 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

The expanded main arena & ring events by 1906

The Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association, c.1906 / 67420 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

John Merten’s connection to St John’s Cathedral

During the visit to Brisbane in May 1901 by the Duke and Duchess of York, the then Prince George, and Mary (the future King George V and Queen Mary) where they laid the foundation stone of St John’s Cathedral (illustrated), Merten was entrusted with making a carved casket (illustrated) from native woods including Black bean, with a drop front, into which is slotted a watercolour illuminated manuscript address which was presented by the Government of Queensland (now in the Royal Collection Trust, UK).

Merten was also commissioned to design liturgical furniture for the Victorian Gothic style Cathedral. The first stage of construction began in 1906 and took four years to complete, constructed from ‘Brisbane Tuff’ and Helidon sandstone from the Lockyer Valley Region of southeast Queensland, east of Toowoomba. Helidon sandstone was used extensively in public buildings at the time, including the Brisbane Treasury Building (construction started 1886), Brisbane City Hall (construction started 1920), and the University of Queensland (construction started 1938).

Laying of the foundation stone, 1901

Crowds gathered to view the laying of the foundation stone for St John’s Cathedral, 1901. The foundation stone of Helidon pink stone formed the base of a choir pier and was suspended from a tripod. Work commenced on the Cathedral in 1906 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Construction of St John’s Cathedral,1906

The construction of St John’s Anglican Cathedral began in 1906 and the first section of the Cathedral was completed in 1910, c.1909 / 69140 /Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
St John’s Anglican Cathedral, c.1910-11 / 119856 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

John Merten ‘Address casket’, 1901

John Merten, Australia 1861-1932 / Address casket 1901 / Queensland Black bean and native Queensland woods / 49.0 x 55.3 x 34.0 cm / Collection: Royal Collection Trust, UK

Prince George at Government House, 1901

Prince George, Government House, May 1901 / 188890 / Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

John Merten & LJ Harvey ‘Hallstand’ 1920

Of particular interest here is Merten’s collaboration with Queensland’s principal Arts and Crafts practitioner, Lewis Jarvis (LJ) Harvey (1871-1949) as, at that time, carving and cabinetmaking were distinct trades. Harvey, an accomplished carver, lived on Gray Road, Hill End (now Brisbane’s West End), less than 100 metres from Merten, who resided in Hoogley Street. Harvey collaborated with Merten on two major sideboards: a neo-Renaissance style for Harvey’s wife in 1909; the other in art nouveau c.1925 (Collection: Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Sydney) (illustrated). It is known that Harvey also carved motifs on other examples of Merten’s cabinetwork.

John Merten, Cabinetmaker, Australia 1861-1935; L.J. Harvey, Carver, Australia 1871-1949 / Hallstand 1920s / Black bean (Castanospermum australe) assembled and carved with leather seat and copper drip tray / hallstand: 198 x 115 x 56cm; drip tray: 4.4 x 40.5 x 30.7cm / Gift of Janet and Jack Grace through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2003. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

‘Queenslander’ furniture

The furniture that decorated the typical ‘Queenslander’ home in Brisbane during the first half of the twentieth century was essentially a simplified Arts and Crafts style. The preferred timber was silky oak and, although Black bean (Moreton Bay chestnut) is native to the Brisbane area, it was used from the 1890s in small quantities. 

From the nineteenth century the native forests of south east Queensland provided a resource for building and cabinet timber. The silky oak’s primary significance locally was as a cabinet timber — it achieved recognition at the Queensland National Agricultural and Industrial Association exhibition in 1901 when manufacturer, John Hicks and cabinet-maker, John Merten were awarded First Orders of Merit for bedroom suites. John Hicks established his furniture business in the 1860s in Albert Street, Brisbane and led to a series of relocations and expansions over the decades that followed. For the next forty years silky-oak became the dominant timber used to furnish ‘Queenslander’ homes for the bedroom, lounge and dining rooms.

Black bean was also considered a valuable source of timber, its dark-brown to almost black timber somewhat resembles walnut. Black bean derives its name from its large bean-like seeds from flushes of yellow and red flowers during summer, however these seeds are the poisonous part of the plant, and the timber’s sawdust is also toxic.

RELATED: Lewis Jarvis (LJ) Harvey

John Merten, who had the reputation of being one of the finest cabinet makers in Australia, continued to make furniture for some 50 years, while LJ Harvey is appreciated locally for his woodcarving — he was a prominent figure within Queensland’s Arts and Crafts Movement in the first half of the 20th century — he also inspired the largest school of art pottery in Australia during the 1920s and 30s.

Edited curatorial extracts, research and supplementary material compiled by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, from Glenn R Cooke, former Curator (Queensland Heritage), QAGOMA.

(Left) The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933), Wed 20 Jul 1932, Page 15, Courtesy: Trove, National Library Australia / (Right) John Merten, Cabinetmaker, Australia 1861-1932; LJ Harvey, Carver, Australia 1871-1949, Sideboard c.1925, Collection: Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Sydney

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Go back in time to Margaret Olley’s Brisbane

 
Posted by Elliott Murray   ●   31 Jul 2022

Margaret Olley moved to Brisbane when she was 12 and was a boarder at Somerville House school for girls in South Brisbane from 1937 to 1940 where they were quick to recognise Olley’s talents and recommended to her mother that she attend art school. Her friend and fellow artist Margaret Cilento also began formal art studies at the same school.

Olley’s journey to becoming an artist began at the Brisbane Central Technical College in 1941 (now Queensland University of Technology). She moved to Sydney in 1943 to enrol in a diploma of art at East Sydney Technical College (later the National Art School), graduating with first-class honours in 1947. In Sydney Olley connected with many Australian art luminaries — such as Russell and Bon Drysdale, Donald Friend and Justin O’Brien — and experimented with a wide range of subject matter for her works, including landscapes, figures and still lifes.

DELVE DEEPER: Discover more fascinating Queensland Stories

Margaret Cilento & Margaret Olley

Margaret Cilento and Margaret Olley (right) at McMahons Point, Sydney c.1943 / Image courtesy: Bequest of Margaret Olley 2011, Margaret Olley Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales Archive

Frequent trips back home to Brisbane also served as inspiration, and she captured many of the city’s buildings in paint. Olley’s well-received first solo exhibition was opened on 30 June 1948 by Russell Drysdale at the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, and four months later she held another successful exhibition at Moreton Galleries, Brisbane. Olley’s growing popularity made her an attractive subject for artists, and William Dobell’s portrait of Olley won the Archibald Prize in 1948 (illustrated).

William Dobell ‘Margaret Olley’

William Dobell, Australia 1899–1970 / Margaret Olley 1948 / Oil on hardboard / 148 x 118.5 x 13cm / Purchased 1949 / Collection: Art Gallery New South Wales / © William Dobell/Copyright Agency
Margaret Olley and William Dobell in ‘Painting People’ 1965 in front of William Dobell’s 1948 Archibald Prize–winning portrait of Olley / Still supplied by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Film Australia Collection / © NFSA

Olley set sail for Europe with friend Mitty Lee-Brown in January 1949. Fellow artist Anne Wienholt had generously provided funds for Olley to travel abroad and study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris 1950 (illustrated) resulted from her in time in the French capital, as the academy was situated close to the Luxembourg Gardens. Olley honed her drawing skills by producing a considerable volume of richly detailed pen, ink and wash sketches of buildings observed on her extensive travels.

Margaret Olley ‘Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris’

Margaret Olley, Australia 1923-2011 / Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris 1950 / Watercolour, gouache, pen and ink on paperboard / 57 x 67.5cm / Purchased 1950 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Margaret Olley Art Trust

Margaret Olley returns to Brisbane

Margaret Olley in the garden at Farndon c.1950s / Image courtesy: Margaret Olley Archive, Art Gallery of New South Wales Archive

In 1953 Olley returned from travelling abroad to her family home in Morry Street, Hill End (now West End) after the sudden death of her father. In the first few years after her return, Olley travelled to Sydney from time to time to meet new artists and renew friendships with Donald Friend, David Strachan and Sidney, Cynthia and Jinx Nolan, and these friends visited her in Brisbane. In Brisbane a lively art circle surrounded Brian and Marjorie Johnstone’s Gallery, where Olley met artists Ray Crooke, Jon Molvig and Charles and Barbara Blackman. A supportive environment for Olley and many other progressive artists of the time was similarly encouraged by the appointment of Robert Haines as Director of the then named Queensland National Art Gallery, and by art historian Dr Gertrude Langer’s writing as art critic for the city’s Courier-Mail newspaper.

Margaret Olley at the Johnstone Gallery

(Left to right) Brian Johnstone, Marjorie Johnstone and Margaret Olley at the Johnstone Gallery 1957 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Back at the family home in ‘Farndon’, Brisbane no longer seemed quite as stifling. Towards the end of the 1950s Olley opened an antique shop at Stones Corner, an inner southern suburb of the city, and on the way to and home had to change trams. Olley reminisced…

I had to change trams at South Brisbane, which was very run-down in those days, full of depressed-looking hotels, real bloodhouses.

Trams at South Brisbane

Pedestrians crossing Grey Street, Melbourne Street intersection (toward the future Performing Arts Complex) from South Brisbane Railway Station, 1961 / 84568 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Tram at Stanley Street, South Brisbane before entering Melbourne Street, 1964. Currently the site of South Bank Parklands / BCC-TR-1374 – 000464 / Image courtesy: Brisbane City Council

South Brisbane 1966 and Victoria Bridge II 1966 (both illustrated) are the subjects of some of her ink and watercolour studies of the area. Not long after, the area would dramatically change.

The Victoria Bridge illustrated in Olley’s studies was replaced in 1969 with the current sleek design, the third permanent crossing erected at this location, a portion of the southern pedestrian arch that Olley references remains.

Victoria Bridge II is drawn from where the Queensland Art Gallery Melbourne Street Plaza is now situated, and the buildings pictured on the left of Melbourne Street in South Brisbane were demolished toward the end of 1966 to make way for the new and third Victoria Bridge, and those on the right from 1978 for the construction of the Cultural Centre’s Performing Arts Complex.

RELATED: The history of the Queensland Art Gallery

One can imagine Olley sketching these landmarks in South Brisbane while in transit, knowing of the impending demolition and bridge construction to come just months later. However, what Olley didn’t know was just some years later, the area would be claimed for the future new premises of the Queensland Art Gallery.

Margaret Olley ‘South Brisbane’

Margaret Olley, Australia 1923-2011 / South Brisbane 1966 / Ink and watercolour on paper / 38.5 x 49cm / Gift of the Margaret Olley Art Trust through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2012 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Margaret Olley Art Trust

Contemporary photography of South Brisbane

Hotel Victoria, Cnr Stanley and Melbourne Streets, South Brisbane, c.1950, demolished 1978 to make way for the Performing Arts Complex opposite the Queensland Art Gallery / 31557-0001-0082 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Victoria Building (AD 1887) on the Corner of Melbourne and Stanley Streets, South Brisbane, demolished 1966 to make way for the new Victoria Bridge. Currently the site of the Queensland Art Gallery / P53949 / Image courtesy: Royal Historical Society of Queensland
A crane works on demolition of the Victoria Building in preparation for the new Victoria Bridge, September 1966 / 188208 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Second Victoria Bridge photographed from its southern end during construction of the third permanent bridge, 1968. The new bridge opened to traffic in April 1969 with the archway to the right of the old bridge retained after the bridge’s demolition / 110494 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Margaret Olley ‘Victoria Bridge II’

Margaret Olley, Australia 1923-2011 / Victoria Bridge II 1966 / Pen and watercolour on paper / 38.5 x 49cm / Collection: Moreton Bay Regional Council / © Estate of Margaret Olley

Contemporary photography of Victoria Bridge

The second permanent Victoria Bridge c.1933. This bridge was officially opened in October 1896 and decommissioned in April 1969 / 78161 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Both Victoria Bridges, December 1969, with the earlier second version being removed / Image courtesy: Queensland State Archives

The Brisbane of Olley’s youth had changed little in her absence since her return in the early 1950s — the city was still the same large country town on the banks of the meandering Brisbane River. The refuge of ‘Farndon’ would play a pivotal role in Olley’s life, tying her to Brisbane for many years, however the city she knew was changing.

RELATED: The proposals for a Cultural Centre for Queensland

The Supreme Court building she recorded in George Street, North Quay in 1966 (illustrated), opposite the current Queensland Art Gallery at South Bank, and once proposed as the future site of the Gallery in 1948, was destroyed by arson in 1968, the remains of the building demolished in 1976 for a new Law Courts Complex.

Margaret Olley ‘Law Courts, Brisbane’

Margaret Olley, Australia 1923-2011 / Law Courts, Brisbane 1966 / Ink and watercolour on paper / 39 x 50cm / Purchased 2019 with funds from the Bequest of Helen Dunoon through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Margaret Olley Art Trust

Supreme Court building

Rear of the Supreme Court building viewed from North Quay / 7789-0004-0038 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Front of the Supreme Court Building, George Street entrance, Brisbane, c.1889 / 80784 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

View to South Brisbane from the Supreme Court building

View from Brisbane’s CBD towards South Brisbane with the Supreme Court building in the right foreground, c.1960 / 6668-0001-0005 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Olley left Brisbane two years before the Queensland Art Gallery opened in 1982. Her family home ‘Farndon’ was destroyed by fire in 1980, and Olley moved back to Sydney permanently having already purchased a terrace house in Duxford St, Paddington in 1964 to stay when visiting and an adjacent former hat factory which she renovated to use as a studio. 1982 saw the passing of Olley’s mother Grace, finally breaking the ties to Brisbane.

Margaret Olley at ‘Farndon’

Margaret Olley and her mother Grace at ‘Farndon’, 1966 / Photograph: Bob Millar / Courtesy: State Library of Queensland, Brisbane / Reproduced with the permission of Bauer Media Pty Limited
Margaret Olley painting at on the verandah at ‘Farndon’, 1966 / Photograph: Bob Millar / Courtesy: State Library of Queensland, Brisbane / Reproduced with the permission of Bauer Media Pty Limited

Edited curatorial extracts, research and supplementary material compiled by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer based on Michael Hawker’s QAGOMA publication Margaret Olley: A Generous Life.

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Go back in time with Queensland’s commanding ‘Glengallan’ sideboard

 
Posted by Elliott Murray   ●   12 Jul 2022

The ‘Glengallan’ sideboard 1868 is one of Queensland’s most significant examples of heritage furniture. While the backboard depicts the national symbols of an emu and a kangaroo, the inclusion of the lorikeet and pineapple give it a more local flavour.

The carving is attributed to Matthew Fern, who was appointed the first instructor of wood carving at Brisbane Technical College in 1895. An 1868 press report from The Brisbane Courier records the first showing of the sideboard:

It is satisfactory to know that our beautiful indigenous timbers are coming into favour for cabinet work. We had the pleasure yesterday of inspecting [at] Mr. Ebenston’s … a drawing and dining-room suite of furniture, of Queensland woods and Brisbane manufacture and made to order for Mr. John Deschar [sic], Glengallan station, Darling Downs …

Glengallan sideboard

Joshua Ebenston, Australia c.1835-77; Matthew Fern, Australia 1831-98 / ‘Glengallan’ sideboard 1868 / Cedar, carved / 198 x 242 x 70cm / Purchased 1995 with funds from the Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society (Brisbane) Inc. through and with the assistance of the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation and the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant. Celebrating the Queensland Art Gallery’s Centenary 1895-1995 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Glengallan Run

Glengallan is located in the Southern Downs Region, near Warwick, Queensland. The valley was named by explorer Allan Cunningham (1791-1839) in 1827 in honour of the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Ralph Darling (1775-1858), the name Darling Downs used to identify the surrounding region.

In 1839 Patrick Leslie (1815-1881) was the first pioneer to establish a European presence on the Darling Downs setting out from Sydney in search of new land to settle, the first wave of pastoral activity in Queensland. Leslie followed Cunningham’s trail to the Darling Downs and decided on an area of land for his first station. Hi brother Walter followed with the flocks, and in 1840 the Leslie brothers (Patrick, Walter and George) became the first settlers on the Darling Downs.

The Leslies originally selected a parcel of land which became Toolburra, South Toolburra, Glengallan, Gladfield, Maryvale, Warwick and Canning Downs, and had taken up a far greater area than which they were entitled under a New South Wales licence. The area known as Glengallan was a pastoral run they sold off in 1841-42.

In late 1851 the Sydney-based painter Conrad Martens (1801–78) arrived in Brisbane from Sydney via sea, and for the next few months travelled on horseback across the Great Dividing Range to the Darling Downs, moving south through New England to Sydney. En route he stayed with squatters and pastoralists, filling his sketchbooks with drawings of their houses and properties, his aim being to obtain commissions for watercolours that he would complete upon his return to Sydney. These drawings are some of the few illustrations of Queensland during this time, and his sketches of Glengallan show the station as two timber buildings surrounded by verandahs and situated close together.

DELVE DEEPER: Conrad Martens watercolour provides new insights into Queensland’s history

RELATED: Documenting Queensland’s history

Pencil sketch by Conrad Martens of Mount Sturt from Glengallan. March 4, 1852 / nvg8Nrp1 / Collection: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales / The sketch was used as the basis for the watercolour The bark hut on the plain, Darling Downs, Qld., Mount Sturt from Glengallan c.1952

The bark hut on the plain, Darling Downs, Qld., Mount Sturt from Glengallan

Conrad Martens, England/Australia 1801-78 / The bark hut on the plain, Darling Downs, Qld., Mount Sturt from Glengallan c.1852 / Watercolour and gouache / Purchased 2014 with funds from the Honourable John C Moore, AO, through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Pencil sketch by Conrad Martens of Glengallan. C Marshall Esq. Decr. 31. 1856 / nvg8Nrp1 / Collection: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

By 1855 John Deuchar (1820-1872) went into partnership with Charles Henry Marshall (1818-1874) on Glengallan Run and during their partnership established the famous Glengallan Merino flock and Shorthorn stud. By 1864 the Glengallan Station complex expanded to two houses, stables and a kitchen, and by 1867 Glengallan Run occupied 66% of the total run area available in the Downs.

Glengallan Homestead was built between 1867-68 with a gala opening party held on 16 September 1868. The ‘Glengallan’ sideboard is part of a suite of furniture for the ground floor drawing and dining rooms, made in local materials by a local cabinet maker Ebenstons, who had premises in Brisbane.

RELATED: Anthony Alder’s ‘Heron’s home’

Glengallan Homestead

Glengallan Homestead Drawing Room, c.1897 / 47304 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane 
Restored Drawing Room at the Glengallan Homestead and Heritage Centre / Courtesy: Tourism Queensland
Glengallan Homestead, c.1875 / 16880 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Glengallan Homestead, c.1897 / 47300 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
View from Glengallan Homestead, c.1885 / APO-014-0001-0003 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Curatorial extracts, research and supplementary material compiled by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA

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Queensland Art Gallery: The beginning of South Bank’s transformation

 
Posted by Elliott Murray   ●   11 Jul 2022

In 1969, the announcement of the Queensland Art Gallery’s new premises to be built at South Brisbane, bounded by Melbourne and Grey Streets to Stanley Street and the Brisbane River, and ultimately morphing into the Queensland Cultural Centre, would signal the transformation of the area. The project would be the catalyst for other major developments at South Bank.

Acquisition of land for the Cultural Centre occurred in three stages: the Art Gallery site, which would in due course, include the Museum (1969–77); Performing Arts Complex and Library sites (1975–79); and the Russell Street site for future expansion (1978–80).

As we celebrate 40 years at South Bank, we look at the buildings that occupied the South Brisbane site and surroundings before the Queensland Art Gallery opened, unearthing images of the site preparation, the building still under construction, and fit out of the interior spaces.

RELATED: Part 3: The Queensland Art Gallery design competition

RELATED: Part 2: Finding a suitable site for the Queensland Art Gallery

RELATED: Part 1: The proposals for a Cultural Centre for Queensland

The Art Gallery was initially to be located along Grey Street, Melbourne Street intersection on the site of the York House Private Hotel where the Museum is today, and between it and the river edge was parkland, the Gallery’s horizontal buildings were to step down as terraces to the river, however when the Cultural Centre precinct was proposed, the Art Gallery’s placement moved closer to Stanley Street and the river allowing the Museum to share the footprint.

Model of the Queensland Art Gallery, located along Grey Street, Melbourne Street intersection, 1973 / Photograph: Richard Stringer

Future site and surroundings

Victoria Building, Melbourne and Stanley Street intersection, South Brisbane, demolished 1966 to make way for the new and third permanent Victoria Bridge / P53949 / Image courtesy: Royal Historical Society of Queensland
Hotel Victoria, Melbourne and Stanley Street intersection (riverside), South Brisbane, c.1950, the site of the Performing Arts Complex plaza / 31557-0001-0082 / Image courtesy: State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Grey Street from Melbourne Street towards the William Jolly Bridge, South Brisbane, 1950. York House Private Hotel (middle distance) demolished for the proposed Queensland Art Gallery site, now the Museum site, and Bayards Department Store (right) now the Performing Arts Complex site / BCC-B54-647 / Image courtesy: Brisbane City Council
Grey Street and Melbourne Street Intersection toward the Victoria Bridge to the right and William Jolly Bridge to the left, South Brisbane. Originally proposed as the Queensland Art Gallery site, now the Museum corner / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library
The second permanent Victoria Bridge, South Brisbane, October 1953 / BCC-B54-4278 / Image courtesy: Brisbane City Council
Grey Street and Melbourne Street Intersection toward the South Brisbane Railway Station (middle distance), South Brisbane, 1971. Bayards Department Store can be seen on the left / BCC-B54-35045 / Image courtesy: Brisbane City Council
Abandoned buildings, Grey Street toward William Jolly Bridge to the right, down from York House Private Hotel, Melbourne Street Intersection. Site of the current Museum / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library
Construction of the current and third permanent Victoria Bridge to the left and the second permanent bridge to the right, 1968 / 108235 – 21218208600002061 / Image courtesy: State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Overlooking the future site of the Queensland Art Gallery, South Bank, 1976 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

A hallmark of the Queensland Art Gallery and Cultural Centre as a whole is an integrated approach to the design of the architecture’s low-profile monolithic forms, geometric approach to design, and simple, ‘pure’ construction details, all in parallel with the Brisbane River. Specifically the use of a simple palette of materials throughout; a monolithic, white, lightly sandblasted concrete finish and glass, with bronze, stone and timber detailing. The architects settled on a concrete mix that included: white cement from South Australia; fine white sand from Stradbroke Island, the second largest sand island in the world; and fine and coarse aggregates from the Pine River, also in the Moreton Bay Region.

The Queensland Art Gallery was opened by the Premier of Queensland on 21 June 1982, and in the same year, the Gallery won the Sir Zelman Cowan Award for Public Buildings, the Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ highest award for public buildings.

DELVE DEEPER: The history of the Queensland Art Gallery

Site earthworks

Removal of the old wharf structures along the Brisbane River / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

Site works and workshop for the Queensland Art Gallery / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library
Queensland Art Gallery construction with earthworks underway along the Brisbane River / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

Construction

Queensland Art Gallery construction, c.1976 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

Queensland Art Gallery construction, June 1979 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library
Queensland Art Gallery construction c.1980 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

Fit out

The Queensland Art Gallery building still under construction, July 1981 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

The Queensland Art Gallery during fit out, March 1982 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library

Queensland Art Gallery

Queensland Art Gallery, 1982 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library
Queensland Art Gallery, South Bank and surrounding South Brisbane, 15 June 1982 / BCC-B120-7876 / Image courtesy: Brisbane City Council
Queensland Art Gallery, South Bank and surrounding South Brisbane, 15 June 1982 / BCC-B120-7879 / Image courtesy: Brisbane City Council
Max Dupain, Australia 1911-1992 / Looking across the river towards the Queensland Art Gallery, South Bank 1982 / Collection: QAGOMA Research Library
Queensland Art Gallery prior to opening, June 1982

This is an edited extract from the Queensland Cultural Centre Conservation Management Plan (published 2017), prepared by Conrad Gargett in association with Thom Blake, Historian and heritage consultant. Thom Blake researched and wrote the chapters on the history of the Cultural Centre and revised statement of significance. The individual building’s architecture, the site’s setting, landscape and fabric were investigated by Luke Pendergast with principal support by Robert Riddel. Alan Kirkwood and Peter Roy assisted with advice on the design approach and history of the planning and construction of the Cultural Centre.

The Queensland Art Gallery entered the Queensland Heritage Register in 2015

Additional research and supplementary material by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA
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Barron Falls: Reflecting on the forces of nature

 
Posted by Elliott Murray   ●   2 Jun 2022

We highlight Winifred Rumney’s painting Barron Falls painted in 1906, this powerful painting captures the raging waters in minute detail after substantial rainfall, acknowledging the power of the forces of nature. The Falls became one of the most popular tourist attractions in Queensland after the Kuranda Scenic Railway opened in 1891, allowing visitors to access its natural features.

Winifred Rumney (1860-1919) painted Barron Falls in Far North Queensland in the early part of the twentieth century, it is a unique work painted in Edwardian Queensland at a time when most women artists were painting flower pieces. It is even more unusual because this large landscape was executed by a little known artist who taught at a Technical College in Cairns.

RELATED: Queensland Stories

Winifred Rumney ‘Barron Falls’ 1906

Winifred Rumney, England/Australia 1860-1919 / Barron Falls 1906 / Oil on canvas / 128.9 x 86.2cm / Gift of the Agent-General for Queensland, London 1971 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Barron Falls documented in the early twentieth century

Barron Gorge National Park is a World Heritage Area north-west of Cairns and part of the traditional lands of the Djabugandji Bama people who maintain a close spiritual connection with the country. The steep tiered cascade waterfall tumbling over craggy rocks on the Barron River is located where the water descends from the elevated regions of the Atherton Tablelands to the Cairns coastal lowlands.

This photo was taken from a now disused viewing point along the walking path to the bottom of the falls / Harriett Pettifore Brims 1864-1939 / Barron Falls c.1900 / 31054-0001-0129 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Harriett Pettifore Brims 1864-1939 / Tourists at the viewing platform, Barron Falls c.1900 / 31054-0001-0230 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Overlooking the Barron Falls from the railway station c.1910 / 30467-0001-0028 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane / The original capture used for ‘Barron Falls (from Station), Cairns Railway, Queensland’ (from ‘Coloured Shell Series’) c.1910
Unknown, Australia / Barron Falls (from Station), Cairns Railway, Queensland (from ‘Coloured Shell Series’) c.1910 / Postcard: Colour lithograph on paper / 9 x 13.7cm / 116477 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Kuranda Scenic Railway

The Barron Falls can be viewed from the Historic Scenic Railway which cuts through the National Park on its journey between Cairns to Kuranda, just 27km away and at an altitude of 330m. Construction of the railway began in 1886, when completed in 1891 the Falls became one of the most popular tourist attractions in Queensland, with visitors able to access its natural features and scenery.

Unknown, Australia / Barron Falls and train, Cairns Railway, Queensland (from ‘Coloured Shell Series’) c.1910 / Postcard: Colour lithograph on paper / 9 x 13.7cm / Gift of Glenn R Cooke through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation 2014 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Unknown, Australia / Barron Falls Station, Cairns Railway, Queensland (from ‘Coloured Shell Series’) c.1910 / Postcard: Colour lithograph on paper / 9 x 13.7cm / 1319089 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Winifred May Rumney

Winifred Rumney (nee Quinnell), the daughter of Elvina Robinson and Scottish surgeon, Colonel R.J. Quinnell, according to her own story, My career as an artist by Winifred Rumney, both she and her brother Cecil, a founder of London’s Royal Society of Miniature Artists, showed artistic promise from an early age. She studied freehand and model drawing at the College of Preceptors in London from 1884 to 1886, before attending the South Kensington School of Art from 1886 to 1887.

After arriving in Australia in 1889, she taught at the Sandgate Ladies’ College from 1890 to 1892. Sandgate, located below the Redcliffe peninsula, was a popular seaside destination for Brisbane’s early settlers in the late 1800s.

From 1853, Rumney travelled to Victoria and painted botanical scenes at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne for both Baron Ferdinand von Mueller (1825-96), the Victorian Government Botanist, and for a time Director of the Gardens; and William Robert Guilfoyle (1840-1912), landscape gardener and botanist, acknowledged as the architect of the Melbourne Gardens.

Traveling to Tasmania, Rumney took lessons in ‘sky and foliage’ from Gladstone Eyre (1862-1933), an Australian portrait artist and landscape painter. In 1896 she married Thomas Rumney in Launceston.

By 1900 Rumney had returned to Queensland, living first in Rockhampton and then in Cairns where she taught painting at Cairns Technical College. While in Cairns, Rumney gave private painting classes and sold her canvases, depicting Far North Queensland scenes.

In 1915, she returning to Melbourne after her husband died where she continued to teach.

Barron Falls today / 228169 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Curatorial extracts, research and supplementary material compiled by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA

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Go back in time to a busy corner of the Brisbane River

 
Posted by Elliott Murray   ●   16 May 2022

George Wishart (1872-1921) was born in Brisbane and was taught painting by Isaac Walter Jenner, Brisbane’s foremost marine painter (illustrated below). Wishart also worked professionally as a photographer and was associated with local firm Thomas Mathewson Photographic Studio (see contemporary depictions of Brisbane below). Wishart’s painting A busy corner of the Brisbane River 1897 is of considerable interest and importance as paintings which represent the commercial activity on the Brisbane River are extremely rare.

George Wishart ‘A busy corner of the Brisbane River’

George Wishart, Australia 1872-1921 / A busy corner of the Brisbane River 1897 / Oil on canvas / 76 x 101.5cm / Acquired before 1962 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Wishart mainly painted scenes of Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River. A busy corner of the Brisbane River is the most significant of his works, when it was first exhibited at the Queensland International Exhibition in 1897 it was highly praised as ‘decidedly one of the attractions of the gallery’. The reviewer from The Queenslander on 15 May that year continued: ‘The monotony of colour noticed in many of Wishart’s early works, suggesting that photography and imagination took the place of a close study of the ever-varying and always perfect colouring of nature, has in this work entirely disappeared. All those accidental lights and tints of nature are beautifully reproduced’, with the reviewer commenting on the ‘brilliant and sunny’ depiction of Brisbane’s wharf-side activity.

The enthusiasm of the reviewer most probably indicates that the work’s tonal values have been much reduced in the intervening century, however the painting has recently undergone major conservation (see conservation video below).

Contemporary depictions of Brisbane

Joseph Augustus Clarke ‘Panorama of Brisbane’

Public collections in Queensland have few outstanding examples of the work of early artists. Of the major works dating from the 19th century, the Panorama of Brisbane 1880 by JA (Joseph Augustine) Clarke (1840–90), Queensland‘s first professional artist and art teacher, is undoubtedly the best known and most significant. You can also view the nearly 4–metre–long panorama in the Australian Art Collection at the Queensland Art Gallery.

DELVE DEEPER: JA Clarke’s ‘grand picture’ of Brisbane

J A (Joseph Augustus) Clarke, Australia 1840–1890 / Panorama of Brisbane 1880 / Oil on canvas / 137 x 366cm / Collection: Queensland Museum

Poul C Poulsen ‘Brisbane River’

Poul C Poulsen, Australia 1857-1925 / Brisbane River 1880 / Albumen photograph on paper mounted on card / 14.8 x 20.9cm (image) / Gift of Glenn R Cooke through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2009 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Brisbane photographed by Thomas Mathewson

Thomas Mathewson, Scotland/Australia 1842–1934 / Brisbane photographed from Bowen Terrace, 1881 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘View of Brisbane’

View o f Brisbane 1885 (illustrated) and Brisbane from Bowen Terrace, New Farm 1888 (illustrated) serve an important function — at the time of their execution such works supplied the population of early Brisbane with artistic impressions of their new home, in some ways validating it — art as a sense of place.

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / (View of Brisbane) 1885 / Oil on wood panel / 21.7 x 52.5cm / Purchased 1986 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Isaac Walter Jenner ‘Brisbane from Bowen Terrace, New Farm’

As historical documents, Isaac Walter Jenner’s paintings of early Brisbane record the busy shipping life of the colony. This is particularly true of Brisbane from Bowen Terrace, New Farm (illustrated), not only for its depiction of early Brisbane, but especially of the rigging of the ships, which testify to Jenner’s love and knowledge of the sea. The main ship in the painting is the RMS Quetta, which was regularly used on the London-Brisbane ocean mail service.

Isaac Walter Jenner, England/Australia 1836-1902 / Brisbane from Bowen Terrace, New Farm 1888 / Oil on board / 14.5 x 21.8cm / Purchased 1995. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

City Botanic Gardens and Kangaroo Point cliffs

The Kangaroo Point Cliffs, across the Brisbane River from the Botanical Gardens, c.1913 / 94520 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

A busy corner of the Brisbane River records the commercial activity at the Eagle Street Wharves, now part of Brisbane’s Central Business District. Towards the background, Wishart has captured the Bunya pines in the old botanic reserve, later to become the City Botanic Gardens established in 1828 to provide food for the early penal colony. Further back, the light strikes the cliffs at Kangaroo Point (illustrated above).

A photograph of the ‘A.W.S.N. Wharf and Thomas Browns Building’ from 1989 (illustrated below) shows the two galvanised iron covered warehouses that Wishart depicts. The row of windows set just below the roof-line in the distant building is particularly distinctive. Similarly, the photograph ‘Eagle Street Wharves’ from 1888 (illustrated below) is close to the character of the painting, other than the masted ship facing the opposite direction, suggesting that Wishart based his works on photographs.

Eagle Street Wharves

The first wharf along Eagle Street was built in 1858 by the Australasian Steam Navigation Company (ASN) where passenger and cargo ships would dock in Brisbane. By 1864, the wharf was expanded and extended in both directions, upstream and downstream.

The construction of the new Customs House (illustrated below) on Queen Street with river frontage, stimulated wharf development around the Eagle Street Wharves with the grand new building opening on the site of its predecessor in 1889. This confirmed that the Petrie Bight area was still the heart of the port of Brisbane for some time.

Downstream from the Customs House, wharf development occurred a little later, extending towards the bend of the river opposite Kangaroo Point below Bowen Terrace, then further downstream around Newstead.

Today, the original Eagle Street Wharf is home to waterfront dining, with the Eagle Street Pier further enhanced by the Howard Smith Wharves entertainment precinct downstream under the Story Bridge.

Petrie Bight & Kangaroo Point

Sailing ships moored in the Brisbane River at Petrie Bight, overlooking the buildings at the Eagle Street Wharves and the Kangaroo Point cliffs in 1875 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
A family in their garden on the cliffs at Kangaroo Point in 1878, with ships docked at the Eagle Street Wharves across the river in the background / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Eagle Street Wharves

Eagle Street Wharves c.1880 / 185472 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
The Town Reach near Eagle Street Wharf 1880, taken from the wharf looking uphill to Eagle Street / 185471 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Sailing ships docked at Eagle Street Wharf c.1888 / 158916 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane
Eagle Street Wharves c.1898 / 142817 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Customs House

Brisbane’s Customs House, 1898 / 65241 / Image courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane

Watch secrets revealed through conservation

Go behind-the-scenes as we delve into the secrets of A busy corner of the Brisbane River. The painting has undergone major conservation, and as a late 19th century painting, it has special conservation needs. These are mostly due to the difficulty of removing stubborn wax and varnish layers from thinly painted, sometimes solvent sensitive paint, in areas such as the rigging. The varnish had become yellowed and some of the in-painting which had been completed to reinstate or restore damaged areas had discoloured.

Infrared images of the painting indicate that Wichart prepared a very careful under-drawing, we can see exquisite outlining of the large ships and their rigging, as well as free sketching of figures and cargo, and the horizon of the Kangaroo Point cliffs.

Also revealed are many small changes, examination shows that the small boat in the foreground of the completed painting was an afterthought (see illustration below), as seen in the X-ray, the river continues through the boat design, and there is no sketch of it in the original composition.

Conservation Infrared image of A busy corner of the Brisbane River 1897
George Wishart, Australia 1872-1921 / A busy corner of the Brisbane River 1897 / Oil on canvas / Acquired before 1962 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
George Wishart, Australia 1872-1921 / A busy corner of the Brisbane River (prior to conservation) 1897 / Oil on canvas / 76 x 101.5cm / Acquired before 1962 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

Curatorial extracts, research and supplementary material compiled by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA

Featured image detail: George Wishart A busy corner of the Brisbane River 1897

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