The Newcastle Herald has been of great assistance yet again by publishing one of our photos in its fascinating A moment in time series. On Saturday 14 January 2012, they published the above photo showing some teacher trainees, asking for people to identify the young faces, and, in the same column on Saturday 21 January, they reported the information kindly supplied by members of the public.

Trevor Fullerton emailed the Herald to say he was pictured on the far right of last week’s photo.

Mr Fullerton said it was taken at The Junction Demonstration School in 1956 when Newcastle Teachers’ College was located in Union Street, Newcastle.

“It was the first demonstration lesson observed by a group of students in their initial year of training, ” he said.

“The [standing] students are, from left to right, Jocelyn Driscoll, Brian Evans, Patricia Dark, Bill Fowles and Trevor Fullerton.”

David and Dale Dark of Clarence Town also sent an email, saying they had called David’s sister Patricia Dark, (now Menzies) who now lives at Dorrigo and remembers the photo being taken.

Many thanks to the Herald and to Mr Fullerton, Mr and Mrs Dark and Mrs Menzies!

If you wish to see the full-sized photo, click on the image on this page. Former Newcastle Teachers’ College students may also be interested to see the rest of the photos in the set, Newcastle Teachers’ College, on our Flickr site.

Algernon Henry Belfield (1838-1922)

Late last year a old register containing a further treasure trove of scientific climate data was unearthed.

The register, belonging to leading New England pastoralist, meteorologist and astronomer Algernon Henry Belfield (1838-1922), brings to a conclusion the climate records meticulously collected at his observatory and weather recording facilities at Eversleigh Station over a period of 45 years.

The work is a testament to Algernon Belfield’s dedication to the collection of scientific climate data, and his love for the elements, the final record was taken on the 2 July 1922, only weeks before he died on the Saturday 5th August 1922.

Richard, his grandson, relates that on the Wednesday prior to his death, he had collected his mail, which was a buggy trip to Dumaresq Railway Station with his fox terrier, coming home he complained to one of his boys that he was feeling a little weary and retired to his room at Eversleigh. He passed away early Saturday morning, buried on the Sunday, therefore not disrupting the working week. An efficient man to the end.

Eversleigh Homestead

The Register was digitised by William Oates at the University of New England, and uploaded into a single PDF file by the University of Newcastle’s Cultural Collections. You can download the entire Register as a single PDF here:

Register of Meteorological Observations taken at Eversleigh 1908-1922 (63 MB PDF File)

To access the full climate archive click the following post relating to the original deposit of climate data records from 1877-1907:
http://uoncc.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/climate-archive-to-help-predict-extreme-weather-events/

Gionni Di Gravio
University Archivist

Tug-o-War at Northern (Rhondda) Colliery Picnic, 1957

This wonderful photo appeared in The Newcastle Herald on Saturday 19 November in its excellent  A moment in time series. The photo is of a tug-o-war and was taken at a works picnic attended by management and workers of Northern (Rhondda) Colliery, near Teralba, New South Wales. It was taken by the late Vic Ash and provided to us by Barry Howard who identified some of the people as follows:

On the rope, from right to left – Jack White (at front, closest to camera), Peter Murray (Mine Manager), Norm Ward, unidentified man, Dawson Robertson.

The man holding the little girl, third from right, is “Nugget” Hayden.

Since the photo appeared in The Newcastle Herald, more information has been supplied by members of the public. On Saturday 26 November, The Herald reported:

Argenton’s Francis Fenwick called in to say his daughter had recognised him in the photo (above) published last week, standing on the very right behind the boy with dark hair.
Known as “Fenno” and now 87, Fenwick was a bulldozer driver for carrying company Hawkins and worked at the Rhondda Colliery for two and a half years.
He said he remembered manager Jack White and superintendent Peter Murray as if it were yesterday.

On Saturday 3 December, The Newcastle Herald reported:

Elaine White recognised her late husband Jack White at the front of the rope in the picture of the Miners Picnic at the Northern (Rhondda) Colliery in 1957.
Mr White died in 1979.
The man behind him, Peter Murray, died six years ago.
“I can tell you it was the staff versus the miners and the staff did pull the miners across the line,” she wrote.”

On Saturday 10 December The Herald reported:

Patricia McBlane sent an email to point out her husband Norm McBlane in the photo published on November 19 of the Northern (Rhondda) Colliery picnic in 1957.
She said her husband, then 14, is pictured at the far right of the photo.
His father Doug (Jock) McBlane worked in the mines and called events from the microphone at the picnics.

It is great to receive information about the people in our photos. Our Flickr site has been a boon in this regard, and now the publication in The Newcastle Herald of this and other photos from our collections has added greatly to our knowledge, and given pleasure to those who recognise themselves or loved ones in the photos.

Our thanks go to Helen Gregory of The Newcastle Herald for publishing the photo, the late Vic Ash for taking it, Barry Howard for supplying it to us, and, of course, Mr Fenwick, Mrs White and Mrs McBlane for giving us the information.

You can see the full sized scan of the photo on our Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/5569587548/sizes/o/

Athel D'Ombrain

Day Shift – 15/11/2011 – 02:10 PM – forthcoming
Presenter: Carol Duncan
Interviewee: Gionni Di Gravio, Archivist, Newcastle University

University of Newcastle Archivist Gionni Di Gravio discusses the recent digitisation of the Athel D’Ombrain Collection comprising of over 2,500 negatives, and talks about his life and extraordinary contribution to the Hunter Region.

Broadcast Notes:

The Athel D’Ombrain Collection was deposited with the University of Newcastle Archives in 1982.

The following notes are from an 1981 article in the University News entitled “University Post” (Vol. 7 No. 12 July 1981 p.[3]) supplemented with further notes from a variety of websites. He left an incredible and varied legacy in the wider Regional community. These photographs are an outstanding document of his life’s work and contribution to the natural world,  history, architecture, science and art. They document many historical buildings throughout the Hunter Region, prior to restoration. They also document buildings and structures no longer extant.

The negatives were digitised by Sharon Mee and Michael Sherriff, and both should be congratulated for scanning the two and a half thousand odd negatives that are very challenging to handle. Sharon is currently uploading the negatives to our flickr site here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627892125061/

Here is a selection:

Athel D’Ombrain A.M. (1901-1985) was a photographer, optician, naturalist, author, cricketer, pioneer angler, game fisherman and historian.

He was born in Casterton in the Western District of Victoria in 1901. His father, a general practitioner, was one of the pioneer ornithologists of Australia, and had helped in the formation of the Royal Australian Ornithologists’ Union. It was through his father, and the excursions they shared together, that Athel learnt about the natural world. His interest was further developed by living on the north shore in Sydney at a time when the suburb was sparsly settled and a fine place in which to study birds and animals.

He attended Shore College, Sydney between 1913-18. After being educated at Shore, and realising that his interests were not academic,  he later studied agriculture at Hawkesbury Agricultural College, and worked on the land at Somersby, garnering much success as a citrus-grower. He was part winner of a Wembly Medal and winner of several prizes in local citrus shows.

Athel had also studied optometry and when his brother, Arthur, an opthalmic surgeon, said he should move to Maitland and work with him as a manufacturing optician he said he would. In 1929 he moved to Maitland to work as an optical dispenser at his brother’s practice, and for over 20 years was associated with his brother in Maitland, and later for some years in Newcastle.

Athel was a well respected cricketer with the Northern Suburbs Cricket Club. Known as ‘Dorn’ to his fellow cricketers, his first A Grade season (1929-1930) marked the beginning of an association with the Club that would last over fifty years.

Besides playing, he was also served as Secretary from 1930-36, and later conducted Coaching Classes. In recognition of his long playing and administrative services, he was made a Life Member of the Club in the early sixties and Patron from 1968.

In 1934 he, along with Wallace Fitness, approached the secretary of the Hunter River Agricultural and Horticultural Association Show Society, asking whether they could display some local photographs in the Fine Arts Pavilion at the 1934 annual Maitland Show. The request was accepted, and so was founded the Maitland Salon of Photography.  In 1946 Maitland Salon became an Australian Photographic Society approved Salon and then in 1958 became an International Salon with approval from the Photographic Society of America and finally in 1982 the federation International De L’ Art Photographique granted its patronage.

In February 1936, he married Esma Drew, of Clarencetown, by whom he had a son, Robin, who later became a Technical Officer in Chemical Engineering. Esma died in May 1980.

Around 1950 Athel retired from optometry and became a photographer for The Maitland Mercury. After the 1955 flood hit his home he left the newspaper and established a commercial photographic business in Maitland. Concurrent with these activities he was a “photo-finish operator” at the Maitland Showground and a stringer cameraman.

Through the efforts of Athel and Newman Silverthorne, the Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fish Club was formed with Headquarters at Bundabah on the northern side of the Port. In 1935 the fishing enthusiasts built a clubhouse at Shoal Bay. “There was not one house at the bay at this time – nothing but bush”, he says. The Fish Club was taken over by the Army in the Second World War, following which it was incorporated into the Country Club Hotel. He was renown as a pioneer angler who adopted a scientific approach to the sport and who was very successful in the post war years. He is credited with devising the now widely accepted tag and release concept for big game fishes, commencing his first experiments in 1938.

Athel was an expert naturalist especially on Port Stephens and its flora and fauna. For example, he visited Cabbage Tree Island regularly for 44 years observing and banding the sea bird called Gould’s Petrel. The island is the only known nesting place of the species.

He also enjoyed looking at the birds in the wetlands at Hexham as he travelled between Maitland and Newcastle in the train. Previously he had contributed several articles to the Newcastle Morning Herald. In 1965 he wrote a piece about the birds at Hexham, which came under the notice of the Herald’s Editor at the time, Mr E.K. Lingard, who liked the story so much he asked Athel to write a weekly column. For some time he became a Saturday correspondent for The Herald. He also authored a number of published books, ‘Game Fishing Off the Australian Coast’ and ‘Fish Tales’, and an unpublished account of Gould’s Petrel, called ‘North East of Toomaree’, and an unpublished autobiography

His newspaper articles and books contributed a great deal to the unfolding of the wonders of nature. Moreover, he was continually identifying specimens found in the bush and backyards for individuals.

On the 9 June 1975, in recognition of his service to photography and the study of nature, he was awarded Member of the Order of Australia.

In 1981 he was invited to become a Convocation Visiting Scholar at the University of Newcastle, the third to hold the position since its inception in 1977.

As a result of his photographic work over many years, he amassed a monumental collection of photographs relating to the Hunter Valley. One of his roles as Convocation Visiting Scholar was to work in association with Denis Rowe (University Archivist) in the Archives in the Auchmuty Library, cataloguing his photographs and organising the articles about nature that he had written for the Newcastle Herald.

He continued to write his columns up until a few months prior to his death at age 83 in 1985. According to his son, Mr Robin D’Ombrain, he wrote a total of 995 articles for the Newcastle Herald.

He was a member of the Royal Australian Orthnologist’s Union, an Associate of the Australian Museum and a Member of the Order of Australia.

Dome of the State Library of Victoria

On the 28 October 2011 we attended the Annual Meeting of Icam Australiasia in Melbourne. The University of Newcastle was represented by Gionni Di Gravio, University Archivist and Chair of the Coal River Working Party and Ms Ann Hardy, Secretary of the Hunter Branch of the National Trust, post graduate scholar at the University studying the historic  James Fletcher Hospital Site and member of the Coal River Working Party.

What is Icam?

icam is the international confederation of architectural museums and an organisation of architectural museums, centres and collections. It is dedicated to fostering links between all those interested in promoting the better understanding of architecture. In 2010 the Architecture Museum University of South Australia became the inaugural Australian institution to participate in a conference of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums (ICAM).  At the invitation of the ICAM Board, the Museum hosted a seminar at UniSA for colleagues from Australasian institutions holding collections of architectural records. This was the first time representatives of these collections had met as a group and engaged in formal discussions. We agreed to continue the collaboration, and to form ICAM Australasia.

Why were we invited to attend?

Our University holds significant holdings of architectural plans, of particular importance is the Pender Archive representing three generations of architects, one of the largest and most comprehensive architectural collections in the country.

What was discussed?

Morning Session was held at RMIT University. Welcome from Harriet Edquist, Officer in charge of the University Design Archives.

Update from Christine Garnaut, Convenor of icamAustralasia

What do we want to achieve and what are we are able to achieve as a group bearing in mind the charter for ICAM is:

• Preserve the architectural record
• Raise the quality and protection of the built environment
• Foster the study of architectural history in the interest of future practice
• Stimulate the public appreciation of architecture
• Promote the exchange of information and professional expertise

- resourcing issues, community engagement, getting collections out there – exhibitions,

- interesting to learn of the archives of Mervyn Ashmore Smith (11/12/1904–14/3/1994), a Collection held in the Museum in SA. Melvyn Smith was an architect and town planner here in Newcastle up until 1953.

- Viewing of the RMIT Design Archives with Harriet Edquist, Building 15. Highlights included the Romberg Archives – designer of the Administration building at Newcastle, and lecturer at the University of Newcastle.

ACTIONS:

1) Collate our architectural related collections, research output and community contacts – such as Pender, Morton, University, subdivision plans, various architectural projects and mapping across the plan collections, South Maitland Railways (SMR), Les Reedman’s work, Professor Barry Maitland, Bob Donaldson, Ross Deamer, Snowball and other photographic Collections with emphasis on built environment, Architectural firms, involve Architecture staff and students, papers, theses etc.

2) Provide a historic context grid for these collections, e.g. Google Earth mapping of information, utilising subdivisions, photographs to provide context of plan with the historic landscape of the time, Russell Rigby’s overlays.

3) Pull together this architectural related archive into a single portal, incorporating links with our local community networks in the Hunter Heritage Network and National Trust, to provide a Hunter Branch chapter to link in with icam Australasia. Such items include the following:

We have also begun the scanning of the Pender Archive, they will be included here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627165745889/

Other digitised map/plan/built environment related collections of possible interest include:

Mahlshedt and Gee Surveyors – Newcastle – Jan 1886
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627126833932/

The Northumberland and Permanent Building Investment Land and Loan Society
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627009132400/

Map Treasures (General scans of interest from across the collections)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627003398259/

The Athel D’Ombrain Collection
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627892125061/

4) Promote ongoing activities such as National Trust walks AAA walks http://www.thelockup.info/architecture-walks/ , collaborations between Coal River Working Party and Faculty of Architecture and other areas of the University relating to built environment, adaptive reuse, artistic collaborations e.g. http://www.thenovocastrianfiles.com/2010/07/aa-co-mine-managers-house-1849.html

Following lunch we made our way to the afternoon venue which was the Rare Printed Collections Meeting Room in the State Library of Victoria.

- Welcome from Mary Lewis followed by a session of short presentations followed by discussions convened by Helen McLaughlin

T & G Building Plans

- Professor Miles Lewis, Faculty of Architecture Building & Planning, University of Melbourne.  “Proposal for a short course for Curators: Collecting and interpreting architectural drawings”.

- Peter Johnson, Architect & Heritage Consultant, member of the AIA National Heritage Taskforce. “Proposal to establish a process for Institute State and Territory Chapters to more effectively assist cultural institutions to collect and archive documents of notable Australian architects”.

Topics for further discussion:

Promote the exchange of information and professional expertise:

e.g. Brainstorm ways in which we could engage more actively with each other and also engage researchers with the collections that we hold.

e.g. Discuss whether or not to link to established groups like Museums Australia or the Australian Society of Archivists through their special interest groups.

Foster the study of architectural history in the interest of future practice:

e.g. Discuss whether or not it is worth organising a special session/track of papers at a SAHANZ conference. (The 2012 conference is at University of Tasmania, Launceston, 5-8 July; abstracts are due by Monday 14 November)

Preserve the architectural record

e.g. Discuss implications of digital records and evolving platforms.

Raise the quality and protection of the built environment

e.g. How might we engage with this issue?

Stimulate the public appreciation of architecture

e.g. through our websites and collective activities such as exhibitions

Mary Lewis with participants

Cultural Collections
Seminar

Cultural Collections Reading Room
Level 2, Auchmuty Library
The University of Newcastle

Friday 18 November 2011
10am- 11am (followed by morning tea)

Broadmeadow Roundhouse
Shane Blatchford

Shane has worked at both Broadmeadow and Cardiff Locomotive Depots. He will be sharing his experiences and stories of the people behind the railway that made it run. He will also cover the history of the Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot.

RSVP: Brenda.Sullivan@newcastle.edu.au or 02 49215824

   
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Portrait of Humphrey McQueen by Karen Donnelly, 2009

Lecture 1

When: 14th October 2011 at 10am
Presenter: Humphrey McQueen
Title: Changing Places: a materialist explanation for nationalism.
Where: Cultural Collections Level 2 Auchmuty Library University of Newcastle.
Cost: Free

Lecture 2

When: 14th October 2011 at 1.30 pm
Presenter: Humphrey McQueen
Title: ‘Will you be long, Mr Barrack?’
Where: Cultural Collections Level 2 Auchmuty Library University of Newcastle.
Cost: Free

Everyone is welcome to attend two free public lectures to be delivered by well known Australian historian Humphrey McQueen in the Friends’ Reading Room Cultural Collections (Auchmuty Library) University of Newcastle.

The first will be held at 10am. Humphrey McQueen will be presenting on Changing Places: a materialist explanation for nationalism.

As part of the University’s Radical Newcastle Project an afternoon paper will be also delivered at 1.30 pm entitled ‘Will you be long, Mr Barrack?’ (Peter Barrack is a former Secretary of Trades Hall in Newcastle).

Humphrey McQueen is a freelance historian and cultural commentator. His most recent book is ‘Framework of Flesh: Builders Labourers Battle for Health and Safety’ published in 2009 (copies are now available at the Coop bookshop on campus). He has an impressive and diverse publication record in Australian history over a long period that includes his 1970 book, A New Britannia: An argument concerning the social origins of Australian radicalism and nationalism, released in several editions. He also contributed the Foreword to Radical Brisbane published in 2004.

This is an important opportunity to engage with a prominent Australian historian to help unpack the concept of ‘radicalism’ and to think through how it might be applied to the University of Newcastle’s own Radical Newcastle project.

Prior to Humphrey’s talk, you are also invited to a light lunch downstairs at Isabella’s adjacent to the Student Union Building from 12 noon to 1:15 pm. Isabellas is adjacent to the Student Union Building. This has once again been provided for us by the School of Humanities and Social Science. If you would like to attend the lunch could you please RSVP Linda Hutchinson (Humanities Research Institute) at Linda.Hutchinson@newcastle.edu.au by Wednesday 12 October.

I hope to see as many of you at the event as possible.

Dr James Bennett
for Radical Newcastle collective.
University of Newcastle

Australian Lepidoptera - Plate 7

Recently, the University Library was very fortunate to receive a copy of what appears to be the unbound 1899 edition of A. W. Scott, Australian lepidoptera and their transformations drawn from the life. Vol. I. by Harriet and Helena Scott ; with descriptions, general and systematic by A.W. Scott.

Ms Jacqui Jools saw some of the publicity relating to our recent exhibition welcoming home the Scott Sisters’ works, and decided to offer us her copy of this very interesting edition of the work. We accepted her offer with alacrity! You can see the 9 black and white plates on our Flickr site.

We are most grateful to Ms Jools for her wonderful donation to Cultural Collections.

Plate 1 from the Australian Lepidoptera (1864)

To celebrate the recent purchases of three original Scott Sisters works through the University’s Reta Light Memorial Trust and Vera Deacon Regional History Fund Cultural Collections in the Auchuty Library is launching a Welcoming the Scott Sisters back to Newcastle Exhibition dedicated to their legacy in the service of science and art.

When: Tuesday 20 September 2011, 10am – 12pm
Where: Cultural Collections Auchmuty Library, University of Newcastle (Under the Mirror Ball)
Guest Speaker: Dr Anne Llewellyn
Cost: Free

The Exhibition will feature the three recently purchased Scott Sisters works, and printed illustrations from the books. In addition we will display the work of the University’s Nature Illustration students, along with life size models, and the ongoing restorative work of the Kooragang Wetland Rehabilitation Project that have been working on Ash Island, the original home of the Scott Sisters, over the past 18 years.

View the set of plates on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon/sets/72157627585881887/

In so bringing the Scott Sisters back the Newcastle the University of Newcastle:

- brings into its custody the exceptional scientific achievements of the entomologist and entrepreneur Alexander Walker Scott (1800-1883), and his talented daughters Harriet (1830-1907) and Helena (1832-1910), artists and naturalists, who were educated and worked on Ash Island documenting Australian plants, animals and insects. This is of immense Local, National and International significance.

Scott's Australian Lepidoptera Plate 4

- actively supports the historical legacy of this environmental and scientific education in our students, especially those particularly enrolled in Dr Anne Llewellyn’s Natural History Illustration Course, the only course of its kind in an Australian University, and one of a handful worldwide, as well as those in environmental sciences and history. This interdisciplinary course is testament to the continuing legacy of the superb work of the Scott Sisters.

Plate 11 - Scott's Australian Lepidoptera (1864)

- promotes and supports the work of the Kooragang Wetland Rehabilitation Project and their University partners and volunteers, such as the Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment, that is actively rehabilitating natural landscapes and ecosystems that have been destroyed over the past 200 years of industrial development.

- promotes our Region’s story and place in the context of the ‘Beauty from Nature’ National Exhibition currently underway in the Australian Museum highlighting the work of the Scott Sisters, where all their original plates, archives, manuscripts and scientific and artistic tools and specimens are held. See http://australianmuseum.net.au/Scott-Sisters-Butterfly-and-Moth-Drawings

Plate 19 - Scott's Australian Lepidoptera (1864)

- promotes a greater respect and awareness for the pre-colonial, indigenous natural environment and the knowledge and sustainable practices of the Aboriginal people who lived on the Islands for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European peoples.

Frontispiece - Scott's Australian Lepidoptera Volume 2 showing the original pier and entrance to Scott's house and farm from the River

In addition copies of the (hot of the press) Butterflies and Bushland The illustrated guide to Ash Island Butterflies by Rosie Heritage and Julian Brougham will also be available for sale with a selection of twenty three (23) beautiful original paintings by Rosie Heritage, the illustrations used in the book ‘Butterflies and Bushland’, on display.

The book was made possible through a Department of Environment and Sustainability and Climate Change Caring for Our Country Grant, and continues the legacy of the work of Alexander Walker Scott and his two talented daughters Helena and Harriet, who, through their mastery of science and art, captured the flora and Lepidoptera of Ash Island, transforming it “into a place of scientific interest world wide.” Ash Island is gradually re-establishing its former splendor, after years of industrial degradation, through the work of the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority and the volunteers of the Kooragang Wetland Rehabilitation Project.  This book is the field guide to the environmental re-birth of this magical place and its butterflies.

I hope you can join us in welcoming the Scott Sisters back to Newcastle and celebrating their continuing legacy through the University and community.

Gionni Di Gravio
University Archivist

The Scott Sisters on Ash Island.

Text of the speech delivered by Dr Anne Llewellyn on the occasion of the Launch of the Exhibition

Harriet and Helena Scott are currently being celebrated in an exhibition at the Australian Museum.  Their work has remained largely unrecognized for 150 years since they lived and worked on Ash Island researching and illustrating the plants, insects and animals that inspired them.  Marion Ord’s 1988 publication that included reproductions of the plants and butterflies of the island reintroduced the world to the work of the Scott’s and reminded us of a world on Ash Island that has been largely lost as a result of heavy industry that used the Island as a dumping ground.

Tutored and guided by their father Alexander Walker Scott, a noted entrepreneur and entomologist, Harriet and Helena enjoyed the beautiful natural environment of Ash Island for a period of twenty years faithfully recording and documenting the wildlife around them.  The 2560 acres of land on the island was originally granted to AW Scott in 1829 but it wasn’t until 1846 after his marriage to Harriet Calcott that the family took up residency on Ash Island.  The home they moved into was modest described as being ‘ a simple house with a verandah, sheltered by pines and a huge Moreton Bay fig tree, with a plantation of orange trees behind a modest garden’.  The Scott’s oranges were reputed to be the best in the colony and were sent to the Sydney market.
Harriet and Helena then aged 16 and 14 mixed with prominent scientists and artists and the Island was often visited by memorable guests such as, Ludwig Leichhardt, the artist Conrad Martens and the ornithologist John Gould likely also visited.  Walker Scott is acknowledged by Gould in the 1865 publication of Birds of Australia as having shown him a brood of Grey Goshawks. The Scotts welcomed and entertained the colonies and visiting rich, famous and most interesting characters.

As a member of the Entomology Society of New South Wales and as a trustee of the Australian Museum, AW Scott was in a good position to introduce his talented daughters to the scientific elite. Harriet and Helena had some obvious advantages over their contemporaries in having this close contact with the scientific community that enabled them to seek advice and close scrutiny of their artwork.  As a result of their work on Lepidoptera, the sisters were made honorary members of the Entomological Society of NSW, a rare tribute for women of their day.

The Australian Museum collection of Scott papers, which largely covers the Lepidoptera, indicates that their research was meticulous and included written descriptions, notes and illustrations of each species.  Two notebooks contain numbered observations that align to numbers on the field sketches and when viewed together, each provides a comprehensive description of the colour, patterns and size of each specimen and their associated chrysalis. The notes also include descriptions of transparency and how the insect moves. The Scotts also collected and bred specimens to inform their work.  This collection, which includes a number of type specimens, has been dispersed across the Australian Museum collection but they remain excellent examples of scientifically significant colonial collecting.

Unfortunately the idyllic lifestyle on Ash Island did not last indefinitely and AW Scott was declared bankrupt in 1866. His wife died earlier in the same year and the remaining family moved back to Sydney.  Helena had married Edward Forde in 1864 but Edward also died in 1866 as a result of fever while conducting a survey of the Darling River.  Helena had planned a publication on Flora of the Darling based on specimens she had collected while accompanying her husband on the Darling trip.  His death saw the collection passed onto Rev William Woolls who included them in his 1867 publication Contribution to the flora of Australia.

The sisters continued to draw and paint commercially for the rest of their lives. Harriet drew botanical illustrations for the 1879, 1884 and 1886 editions of the Railway Guide to New South Wales, and they both executed designs for Australian Christmas cards. Her embarrassment at being forced into being paid for her illustration work led Helena to write in a letter to Edward Ramsay:

‘above all … let nobody know you are paying me for doing them for you … I should be sorry that anybody else should know and Papa would be mad’.

The illustrations of Harriet and Helena are represented in a number of notable publications including the landmark 1864 Australian Lepidoptera and Their Transformations,  J C Cox’s 1868 Monograph of Australian Land Shells, Gerard Kreft’s 1869 Snakes of Australia and 1871 Mammals of Australia.

The University of Newcastle has generously brought home to Newcastle some of this important cultural heritage in the books we see today.  As is the case with much of the natural and cultural history of Newcastle and the Hunter region, our ability to research and enjoy it is limited to museums and galleries out of the region.  Though some of this information is being reproduced electronically, the opportunities for Novocastrians to turn the pages and be delighted by the original published work of Harriet and Helena and the many other artists who have documented the rich history of the region has been limited to major national or international libraries or museums.  I am delighted that the University through funding from the Rita Light memorial trust and also the Vera Deacon regional history fund recognizes the important and significant contribution of the Scott family in recording the natural wealth of this area.

Over the last 20 years, the legacy of the Scott’s research and illustrations has informed the rehabilitation of Ash Island.  Peggy Svoboda and a team of volunteers have established thousands of plants including orchids catalogued in the Scott collection.  Hopefully it won’t be too long before the Island will again boast the sentiment expressed by Ludwig Leichhardt whilst a guest of AW Scott in 1842:

..it is a remarkably fine place, not only to enjoy the beauty of nature, a broad shining river, a luxuriant vegetation, a tasteful comfortable cottage with a plantation of orange trees, but to collect a great number of plants which I have never seen before.
(M. Aurousseau (ed. And translation) Letters of F.W. Leichhardt, Vol. 2, Cambridge 1968

The accompanying exhibition of Natural history illustration, is the work of current research higher degree students from the University’s school of Design Communication and Information Technology who are carrying on the tradition of Harriet and Helena.  As their work demonstrates, the Hunter remains a focal point for the observation and visual interpretation of nature some 145 years after the Scotts left Ash Island.  The physical natural environment of the area remains a rich resource for staff and students of the Natural History Illustration program unique in Australia to Newcastle. Through meticulous field observation, recording and research, this exhibition exemplifies the best practice established and executed by the Scotts on Ash Island and puts Newcastle and the University on the map internationally as a focus for excellence in this field of endeavour.  I thank the RHD candidates represented in this exhibition for contributing work for the exhibition and congratulate them on their commitment to the elucidation of science and contribution to knowledge. The world sorely needs such advocates at this time of global warming, habitat destruction and projected sea level change.

To read more on the work of the Scott family the following link to Beauty from Nature: art of the Scott Sisters exhibition currently on show at the Australian Museum
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Beauty-from-Nature-art-of-the-Scott-Sisters/

Media Links

Great Scott’s Ash Island home restored (Newcastle Star 21 September 2011)

Live: Talented Newcastle sisters celebrated (Newcastle Star 21 September 2011)

Sisters’ 1840s botanical paintings open gallery (Newcastle Herald 27 August 2011)

Butterflies of Ash Island (ABC 1233 Interview with Julia Brougham and Rosie Heritage)

Back Page, August 1994

Back Page archive is now online

Back Page, the former newsletter of the University of Newcastle Sports Union, has been digitised by the indefatigable Tom Robinson and uploaded to our website. Enjoy revisiting the sporting triumphs of your time at the University.

1994

• August 1994
• September 1994
• October 1994
• November-December 1994

1995

• March 1995
• April 1995
• May 1995
• June 1995
• July 1995
• August 1995
• September 1995
• October 1995
• November-December 1995

1998

• No. 1, April 1998
• No. 2, May 1998
• No. 3, June 1998
• No. 4, July 1998
• No. 5, August 1998
• No. 6, September 1998
• No. 7, October 1998

1999

• No. 1, March 1999
• No. 2, May 1999
• No. 3, June 1999
• No.4, July 1999
• No. 5, August 1999
• [No. 6, September-October 1999]
• No. 7, November 1999

2000

• No. 1, April 2000
• No. 2, June 2000
• No. 3, July 2000
• No. 4, November 2000

2001

• No. 1, April 2001
• No. 2, August 2001
• No. 3, November 2001