Exhibition showing March 11 – May 1, 2022
As long as people have lived in the Granite Belt, they have looked for ways to depict the world around them. The region’s Indigenous people used art and songs to tell creation stories, guide their way across their country and record their history. Evidence of their art and culture is still seen in our district.
Europeans who came after them recorded their impressions of the landscape in drawings, words and maps. Photographers and artists documented the progress of the young tin town. For decades, residents have celebrated the landscape, people, and events of the town in paintings, prose and poetry, songs and sculptures. They fashioned local materials into useful and beautiful items reflecting the times in which they lived. This exhibition does not seek to retell the history of Stanthorpe, but to show how generations of artists have responded to our district and how art and artists have in turn shaped the way we view our community. The exhibition has been conceived, researched, designed and written by volunteers and staff for over 2 years
Art is prolific in our place. Long before and in the last 150 years there have been many forms of art: music, dance, photography, painting and more. It demonstrates a rich and strong community that promotes social cohesion and a sense of belonging. These human expressions of life and thought bring us together, transcend language, race, and cultures. Every era is full of creativity and preludes future artistic imaginations as we humans continue to create channels that support us to make sense of our ever-changing world and bring us together under the wings of Art.
Browse the exhibition artworks below, see the catalogue, view the Ed Pak (education materials) or see a map of the locations the artworks are depicting.
Sponsors
This exhibition and the education packs have been supported with funding support from the Gambling Community Benefit Fund and the Stanthorpe RSL.
Credits
Research team:
Michelle Conkas
Alec Harslett
Denise Harslett
Sandra McEwan
Karen McKechnie
Robert Morison
Robyn Murray
Teena Wilcock
Colleen Willis
Roger Willis
Mary Findlay
Copyrighting, editing:
Mary Findlay
Michelle Conkas
Robert Morison
Robyn Murray
Rob Allen
Adrian Ashman
Artwork photography:
Sandra McEwan
Additional image sources as credited
Design:
Rob Allen
Education Pack:
Courtenay Mason
Mary Findlay
Michelle Conkas
Rob Allen
A time before
pre 1871
Art has been part of human culture for millennia. Rock art in Australia dates back well over 20,000 years.
There is little known of the original inhabitants of the area, the Kambuwal people, or their way of life. We do know that Aboriginal people lived in harmony with the land, taking only what was needed and never depleting it of its resources. And, of course they left enduring visual records, as you see above.
The Granite Belt’s spectacular landscape was also a magnet for artists who came later. They presented a new vision of the land, one that reflected their European heritage.
We would like to thank the Kambuwal people for allowing us to use these images.
Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
The Aboriginal rock art in this photograph was found at Amiens, north-west of Stanthorpe. It is faded, showing red-ochre toned marks and lines on the granite rock surface. It has been there for an undetermined time and has not been dated. It measures approximately 50cm high and 150cm wide.
Courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.
From Sketches of Australian scenes, 1852-1853.
James Gay Sawkins (1806-1878) was a British artist who worked in Australia, America and Cuba. In 1852-1853 he travelled through eastern Queensland and New South Wales.
Courtesy Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales, from Album of sketches in Sydney, New England and Queensland, ca. 1852-1878 / drawn by Conrad Martens.
Conrad Martens (1801-1878) was an English watercolour artist who arrived in Australia in 1835. This collection of sketches and watercolours documents his travels from Brisbane to Sydney from around 1851 onwards. This sketch shows the rock formations in modern day Girraween National Park, now known as The Pyramids. “Terrawambella” is likely the original Aboriginal name for The Pyramids. The album also includes sketches of Ballandean and Tenterfield.
They came…
1872-1881
In the early years, the state’s economy was based on the pastoral industry, centred around sheep stations that included local pastoral properties such as Maryland, Pikedale, and Ballandean. The discovery of tin in Stanthorpe in 1872 brought dramatic changes. Within weeks, the area’s population grew to almost 3000 people.
Known as Quart Pot Creek, businesses arrived hot on the heels of the miners. Newspaper men, writers and artists hurried to record what was being created in this virgin landscape. Photographers brought their huge wooden cameras to capture the activities and the buildings in the expanding townscape.
When the township gained recognition as Stanthorpe in 1872, infrastructure including the railway and communication systems were not far behind. The townsfolk frequented the hotels that grew in number to 45 by 1873 and they were entertained by travelling performers at the Prince of Wales Theatre. There were horse races, balls and visiting circuses.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland. Australian Town and Country Journal, 18 June 1881
The artist, Martin Roggenkamp (1837-1912) was born in Germany and arrived in Australia in 1862. He had a photography business in Warwick and later Toowoomba.
Sketch of the opening of the Stanthorpe Railway Station, Queensland, held on Thursday 5 May 1881. The line was forty and a half miles in length and at Maryland it reached the highest point of 3030 feet above sea level.
The 1870s saw a rush to mine tin in the Stanthorpe region. The unnamed author of this article applied for a mining licence but found out that it was too late— someone had beaten him to it. He supplied these sketches and story to the Town and Country Journal, which is digitised on Trove.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
William Boag arrived in Queensland from Sydney in 1871 and travelled throughout the south east Queensland region. In 1872 he travelled to Stanthorpe region where he took this photograph of Stanthorpe State School.
He spent several months in the region, capturing the tin mining boom and documenting daily life. The growing community was self-reliant, creating buildings using simple, available materials.
Courtesy of the Greenup Family, Maryland Station. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
This leather bound record book provides valuable historical climate data. The simplest items of everyday life were embellished with careful penwork. Maryland Station is north-east of Stanthorpe, on the NSW side of the QLD/NSW border, north east of Stanthorpe.
Development
1882-1891
In its second decade, Stanthorpe township developed against a cultural, social, and political background that included women’s suffrage, the growth of trade unions, and the push towards Federation. Many who arrived from foreign lands were driven here by famine, war, political restrictions, and visions of abundant opportunities in a new land. Some wished to own land or sought their fortune from mining tin. Others imagined wealth by providing services to the general population.
And while there are limited surviving examples, artistic pursuits were part of the community’s fabric. They provided a record of, and insight into, life in the rapidly developing district.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
Rayment (1839–1893) was born in London. From an early age he showed a talent for painting and was a pupil of John Ruskin. He moved to Australia in 1887. For two years, he travelled Queensland, painting pictures for local station owners. This view, with Mt Banca in the background, would have been painted from near the site of today’s IGA. The building on the left is still part of The Little Larder café on Railway Street.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
The Gap Hotel was located on the old Warwick to Stanthorpe Road (now called Old Stanthorpe Road) at Cherry Gully. Until the railway opened in 1881, this road was the only road from Warwick to Stanthorpe, and Cobb & Co. coaches would change horses and allow passengers to breakfast at the Gap Hotel.
A nation emerges
1892-1901
The closing decade of the 19th Century is often associated with a rise in nationalism and a search for national identity. The decade was dominated by the push towards Australian Federation.
Artworks of the time reflected the national mood. The focus became Australia and its identity. Artists including Arthur Streeton, Fred McCubben, Tom Roberts, and Charles Conder chose Australian subjects and joined creative movements such as Melbourne’s Heidelberg School. They strove to develop a distinctly rural Australian style of painting.
Artistry and culture remained fundamental to social and recreational activities and were not simply limited to painting or sketching the local environment. They were also reflected in practical skills and objects like needlework and clothing. New technologies, such as gramophones, quickly became integrated into leisure activities.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
Henry Rielly (1845-1905 ) established his reputation in Victoria where he was a founding member of the Victorian Academy of Arts in 1870. He came to Queensland around 1885 and settled in Glen Aplin - both his brothers in law were involved in the tin mining industry. His two sisters (Isabella Rielly Lane and Louisa Aplin) were also artists. It is thought he moved to the region because of his tuberculosis and the region's reputation as 'the sanatorium of Queensland’.
Courtesy of the Greenup Family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
The Symphonion Company started business in 1885 and produced the first disc-playing musical box. Music was created by protrusions that struck tiny teeth in the arm over the rotating disc. Each disc contained different music.
Courtesy of the Greenup Family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Edith Greenup was born at Maryland Station in 1879 to Alfred Sotheron Greenup and Marion Marsh. Edith married Chesleight Oswald Bassingthwaighte. She died in 1955.
Courtesy of the Greenup Family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
These boots were worn by Marion Greenup (nee Marsh) (1847-1920). The style of the boots indicates they were made in the late 1800s.
Civic order
1902 - 1911
The beginning of this decade brought significant changes to Stanthorpe. For example, the increasing use of motor vehicles, the introduction of kerosene streetlights, and the opening of the telephone exchange transformed the way residents travelled and communicated.
Adult education and cultural facilities also emerged. Schools of Arts (sometimes known as Mechanics’ Institutes) had been established throughout the Englishspeaking world from the mid-19th Century. These sprang up across Australia, including Stanthorpe, where they became a local home for cultural activities, reading, civic action, recreation, and entertainment. Many School of Arts buildings contained libraries and, thus, were the forerunners of Stanthorpe’s modern library and art gallery complex.
Stanthorpe’s community spread north and south to accommodate a growing population, which led to new approaches to the design of places, spaces, and objects. Designers and artists share creative visual elements and principles such as shape, colour, line, balance, and rhythm, which are evident in several of the heritage buildings that remain in Stanthorpe.
SRAG Collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Lilian Chauvel (1867 - 1953) was one of Australia's first internationally recognised female artists. She was a painter and fashion designer, and invented the art of "panchrocis" which is a delicate technique of painting on silks and satins.
She was the sister of Sir Henry (Harry) Chauvel (of the Light Horse regiment) and aunt of filmmaker Charles Chauvel. She donated funds to establish the Chauvel Gallery at Centenary Cottage Museum, Tenterfield. Lilian was the founder of the Women's Painters' Society and member of the Women's Industrial Arts Society.
Courtesy of the Harslett family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Glen Aplin was named after Oliver Dyson Aplin, who was a partner in the Severn River Tin Mining Company. Oliver Aplin was married to Louisa Rielly, who was a sister of Henry Rielly.
This town plan shows the allotments available, and touts Glen Aplin as "Queensland's New Health City." The vision for the town included botanical gardens, health resorts and picture theatres.
Courtesy of Julie Watt. Spoon photograph by Adrian Ashman.
Frank Fielder, Manager - late of Hotel Hollywood. Touted in a later advertisement as the "best tourist and holiday accommodation between Sydney and Brisbane" and being in the "new mountain health resort of Glen Aplin" and "rare climate, stimulating and invigorating, partly due to the presence of radio-active minerals in the soil." It featured a 9-hole golf course, putting greens and tennis courts.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
Sheahan's Hotel (now the Central Hotel) was opened in 1909 - an advertisement describes a two story brick hotel with 30 bedrooms and 4 parlours and a 12 foot balcony all around, hot and cold water baths and large airy rooms.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
The original School of Arts building was constructed in 1895. Nearly every small town had one. Stanthorpe’s Home of the Arts hosted a library, lectures, plays, musical recitals and other special occasions.
War!
1912 - 1921
The impact of the First World War was keenly felt throughout Australia. While life on the various fronts had tragic effects on thousands of families, the day-to-day lives of those at home persisted with the raising of children, managing livestock, and maintaining modest lifestyles. Australia had her war artists: Arthur Streeton, John Longstaff and Will Dyson were notable, but there were none who came from Stanthorpe.
At home, those with artistic and creative skills turned to their surroundings, the beauty of nature and the reassurance of familiar places and faces. Few artworks have emerged from this period in the preparation of this exhibition. This is not surprising. But there were still creative products and visual diversions from the horrors of war, as you will see. If you know of any artworks from this troubled time, we would love to hear from you.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
Constance Gittens lived at Glen Aplin and wrote several poetry books, including Poems of Queensland, All Things Needful: Verse for Quiet Moments, Little Ministries: A Rainbow of Rhyme, and Chosen Gems.
SRAG Collection.
The last major pandemic – the ‘Spanish Flu’ – began during the last year of WW1 and spread throughout the world from soldiers returning home. Wallangarra was the site of a quarantine camp from 1918-1919. Border camps were established to keep all people entering the state in quarantine for a period of 7 days.
Courtesy Stanthorpe Library. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Stereographs were an early way of seeing three dimensional images. Two near identical images side by side were placed in a stereoscope which was held close to the eyes and allowed viewers to see the images as one 3D image.
soldiers return
1922-1931
Recovery from the war was a challenge but also an opportunity for fresh beginnings, for rebuilding, to refocus on the development of the town and region, and what it could produce. The Jubilee Year of 1922 saw the opening of the new concrete Carnarvon Bridge across Quart Pot Creek, the arrival of aviator Bert Hinkler in Stanthorpe, and the construction of a war memorial to fallen soldiers. Of some note was the construction of a new School of Arts on the same location as the original.
The town also became a popular destination for people seeking cool summers and healthy air. Several private sanatoriums opened where Art Therapy was introduced to assist soldiers’ recovery from the traumas of war. Artistic pursuits flourished and the region attracted locals and wealthy visitors to an abundance of worthy destinations, subjects, and topics including those that advertised local produce.
Courtesy of Elisabeth Ogston and Ruth Aaskov. Photographs by Sandra McEwan.
The painting of the Bishop family home is the only known collaboration by two local artists at Mount Tully in 1922.
Courtesy Cameron family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Alfred Priest (1874-1929) was an English artist who visited Australia in 1927 and stayed with his brother, Harold, who owned Braeside. He painted portraits for local families, including this one for the Cameron family in Dalveen. David Cameron ran the family property Glen Nevis at Dalveen until he died in 1988. His son, John, still lives there.
Courtesy Paech family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
The Donges orchard was located at Severnlea and produced fruit from the 1920s until the 1980s. These illustrated labels are an example of the packaging used in the early 20th century and were designed by Bob Barnett and printed by Samuel Lee & Co and The Stanthorpe Border Post.
Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
The Stanthorpe School of arts was rebuilt as a double-storey building in 1925.
Photography by Murray Studios. Courtesy State Library of Queensland.
Stanthorpe Soldiers Memorial is a heritage-listed war memorial at Lock Street, Stanthorpe. It was designed by Dornbusch & Connolly and built from 1925 to 1926 by N J Thompson & Sons. It is also known as Stanthorpe War Memorial. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 August 1995.
Courtesy the Chauvel Family and Umbrella Entertainment.
Charles Chauvel OBE (1897 – 1959) was an Australian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He was born in Warwick and settled for a time in Stanthorpe after an unsuccessful stint in Hollywood.
Charles Chauvel's first feature tells the story of a country girl, Dell Ferris (the Moth of Moonbi), drawn to the bright lights of the big city where her inheritance is soon frittered away with high society revelling. Only 30 minutes of the film survives.
Hard times
1932-1941
The crash of the New York stock market plunged the world into a decadelong economic depression. Granite Belt residents worked hard and made the most of what little they had. Much of the art that survives from this period is testament to their resourcefulness and resilience.
Despite wartime shortages of staff and newsprint, The Stanthorpe Border Post never missed an edition during the Depression or World War II. Local artists such as Robert Emerson Curtis, worked as camouflage artists and others were official war correspondents. The School of Arts continued to provide educational and recreational activities for many locals, desperately needed during these difficult times.
Some more successful residents were able to commission architects to design homes in the new Modernist style. The Masel residence in High Street is a beautiful building that attracts considerable attention. It is still occupied.
Courtesy New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM)
Florence Lake (1873-1962) was born in Adelaide and exhibited in South Australia and Queensland several times.
Plans courtesy UQ Fryer Library.
One of the first examples of modernist architecture in Queensland was the Masel Residence, High Street, Stanthorpe, designed by Charles Fulton in 1936.
Courtesy Harslett family. Photograph courtesy Sandra McEwan.
Robert Emerson Curtis (1898–1996) was born in England in 1898. His family migrated to Australia in 1914, settling in Stanthorpe. Curtis worked as an illustrator, cartoonist, official war artist, camouflage officer and architectural draftsman. He was a frequent visitor to Stanthorpe to visit his sister and her family. This drawing depicts the land at Amiens that was cleared and burned for the establishment of the Passchendaele State Forest.
Courtesy Keith Green. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
This shirt, printed with text from The Stanthorpe Border Post was made in the 1930s for a fancy dress.
Srag collection.
By 1933, the School of Arts upper verandah had been closed in (compare to the 1925 image). The Commonwealth Bank of Australia occupied part of the building.
Coping at home
1942-1951
As The Great Depression gave way to World War II, artists, authors, and photographers around the world produced vivid records of turbulent times. Locals also strove to deal with these momentous events. The Granite Belt community rallied and sent many of their sons and some daughters to serve on domestic and international fronts.
Those left at home created their own diversions. Artists attempted to sustain their art practice with varying degrees of success. Music was a common form of entertainment. Popular melodies and poetry were performed at sing-alongs around the piano at home and at dances at community halls; for many people they are a reminder of those difficult times.
Courtesy Harslett family.
There were lighter moments during this stressful period. Local artists travelled to share their art with Toowoomba colleagues. They included Morwenna and Dorothy Gemmell, and Susanne and Jean Chauvel. The event had important social benefits as well as being a regular art discipline, and was carefully recorded.
Courtesy Val Rogers. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Eunice Bougoure was born in the Central Hotel on 17 October 1923 to John and Lola Leahy. She had four siblings. The family moved between Springdale, Stanthorpe and Gunyan at Texas before settling at Springdale in 1935. A skilled horsewoman, Leahy also enjoyed writing poetry and drawing, always about her great loves, horses, dogs, and the land. She led a hard life in her time and found comfort in her ability to compose and create from poetry and drawings to crochet and knitting.
SRAG collection. A painting from an old photograph by an unknown artist. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
The Sheahan brothers moved to Stanthorpe during the tin rush. They were key contributors to the progress of Stanthorpe and district.
Denis Sheahan owned Sheahan’s Hotel (now the Central Hotel). Daniel operated a butcher shop on the corner of Maryland and Grigg Streets (later renamed Victoria Street). John Sheahan ran the Hibernian Hotel and then was a storekeeper and draper in Maryland St near the site of the Country Club hotel which his daughters ran.
Courtesy Robyn Murray.
Geoffrey Hamlyn-Harris spent 5 years in the army and was one of the remnant of twelve still in action, out of an infantry battalion of about one thousand men, after the Owen Stanley, Kokoda and Gona campaigns. After the war he lived in Stanthorpe for a few years where he was engaged in orcharding, and started to write. He moved to Caloudra but returned to Stanthorpe in his later years.
New perspectives
1952-1961
Freed from the hardships of depression and war, art in all forms proliferated in the 1950s and 1960s. Musical and theatrical performances at the Rex Hall, Arcadia Theatre, in various church and village halls, and the Schools of Art helped to create a positive and cheerful atmosphere.
Granite Belt farms were prospering. Wool prices were at a record high. Immigration and the post-war Baby Boom was rapidly increasing the population.
This was also a period for creativity, drawing artists into the landscape and to botanical compositions with watercolour, oils, pencils and crayons. Early in the decade, keen photographers set up the Stanthorpe Camera Club, which still meets each month.
Courtesy Robert Morison. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Morwenna (1894–1984) was born in Portland Oregan, USA. In 1975, her family emigrated to Australia, where they chose the Stanthorpe area for its cooler climate and healthy mountain air. In 1923, she married Alec Gemmell: they farmed at “Braemar”, Glen Aplin. Morwenna’s preferred medium was watercolour and she enjoyed rendering the eucalypt trees around her.
Hubert Jarvis and Morwenna Gemmell shared a lifelong friendship and often painted together. The two paintings were painted from the same spot at the same time.
Courtesy Harslett family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Hubert Jarvis (1882-1964) was born in England. He arrived in Australia in 1915 and was appointed government entomologist in the Department of Agriculture in Stanthorpe where he lived for many years. He was a member of the Royal Queensland Art Society and is represented in the Qld Art Gallery collection.
Courtesy Richard Humphries and the Tulloch family.
Reginald Jerrold-Nathan (1899-1979) , also known as Jerrold Nathan, was an English-born portraitist who painted portraits and landscapes. The Tulloch family comissioned this painting of their new house, which today looks much the same aside from a new roof.
Courtesy Nicky Huxley.
Courtesy Harslett family. Photograph by Adrian Ashman.
Dorothy Curtis Gordon (nee Gemmell) was born in Stanthorpe in 1930. In the 1950s Dorothy began painting Australian native flowers – these have been described as noteworthy not only for their scientific accuracy but also for their artistic quality. The gallery at Myall Park Botanic Garden in Glenmorgan, Qld, was created to showcase the watercolour botanical art of Dorothy Gordon.
Courtesy Stanthorpe Heritage Museum. Photograph by Robyn Murray.
The Stanthorpe Song was written for Back to Stanthorpe week in 1954.
Civic growth
1962-1971
Throughout the 1960s, the growing population of Stanthorpe was looking for new ways to entertain themselves. The Apple and Grape Harvest Festival was launched in 1966. It would become a focus of civic pride, gathering a host of other artistic and community events about it. These included music and dance to guarantee that the new Stanthorpe Civic Centre, St Joseph’s Hall, and the Arcadia Theatre were well patronised.
The 1960s and the beginning of 1970s was an era of cultural, political, and social change that was reflected in contemporary arts, as it was around the world. While abstraction originated in the 19th century, the current period was experiencing the maturation of Abstract Expressionism, widely practiced in painting and sculpture in the USA and Europe since the end of the Second World War. It is not surprising that such artworks would appear in Stanthorpe to puzzle and enthral by their content.
Courtesy Stanthorpe Uniting Church. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
William Bustard (1894-1973) was born in England and moved to Australia in 1921. He was a painter, printmaker, stained-glass artist, illustrator, and poster designer. In 1963 he designed the large stained glass window at the Stanthorpe Uniting Church.
Ballandean artist Patricia Prentice (1923-2006) trained with him, designing stained-glass windows and later painting camouflage nets during World War 2.
SRAG collection.
Andrew Sibley (1933-2015) was an English-born Australian artist and is recognized as one of Australia's most celebrated 20th-century artists. In 1948 his family moved to an orchard in Eukey, Stanthorpe. He won the 1998 Stanthorpe Aquisition Prize.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Doug Croston (1915-2005) was a painter, printmaker and photographer who worked in the ‘minimalist’ style. Douglas Croston was born in Brisbane in 1915. He studied art overseas in Papua New Guinea, the UK, USA and Europe. Between 1945 and 1968 he operated Croston Studios, a portrait and commercial photographic business, in Stanthorpe.
Doug was the first president of the Stanthorpe Art Gallery Society and had a long-term involvement in the Stanthorpe Little Theatre.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
James Nicholas Fardoulys (1900-75), also known as Dimitrios Nikolois Fardoulys, was born in Greece and moved to Australia in 1914. He lived in Warwick and Stanthorpe for a time as a teenager. Fardoulys took up painting in retirement and was considered a leading naïve artist of the time.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
This work was purchased by the Stanthorpe Shire Council from the Stanthorpe Arts Festival, 1972, for the SRAG collection. Ann Hider attended part-time classes in the South Australia School of Arts but was mainly self-taught. She was an elected a Fellow of the South Australia Royal Society of Arts in 1972.
Festival of art
1972-1981
A renaissance in arts in Stanthorpe in the 1970s can be attributed in part to two events. The first was the Stanthorpe Art Festival.
As part of Stanthorpe’s centenary celebrations in 1972, the Art Festival was held in conjunction with the Apple and Grape Harvest Festival. It attracted local entries and artists from around Australia. Acquisitions from the biennial Festival significantly expanded the Stanthorpe Shire art collection. Additions to the collection included works by well-known locals and significant Australian artists in many visual arts forms.
The second was the formation of the Stanthorpe Pottery Club in 1971. The Club continues to grow and promote ceramics through workshops and exhibitions at its studios. Membership grew and the interest was stimulated and supported by Gallery acquisitions from locally and nationally renowned artists.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Joceyln Bonner (1912-2000) came to the Stanthorpe region as a nurse and married a local, Ted Bonner. Jocelyn returned to art when her children attended boarding school. She trained under Chas Barnett. Jocelyn Bonner’s works are represented in many local collections.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Michael G. (Mike) Nicholas (1942-) was born in England and moved to Australia when he was 16. He worked in rural and remote Queensland, which helped him gain an understanding of the Australian bush, flora, and fauna. He has been a professional painter since the 1970s.
In 1992 he was appointed to the Qld Government "Artists in Parks" program and completed a residency at Girraween National Park.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Peter Rushforth (1920-2015) was one of Australia's most influential ceramics teachers. During his time as a prisoner of war in Singapore during World War 2 he came to appreciate the Japanese Mingei (folk) aesthetic. In 1985, he was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to ceramics
SRAG collection.
Chas (Bob) Barnett (1903-1982) was born in South Africa and arrived in Australia in 1931. His contribution to the cultural development of Stanthorpe was considerable. He and Bert Richardson organised the first meeting of the Stanthorpe Art Group in 1945.
He also painted the images in the C. F. Donges Canned Fruits, Stanthorpe Q fruit labels in the 1920s section of the exhibition.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Alan Bourne (1921–79), had no formal training as an artist. He was tutored by several artists including the renowned Murray Walker. He has works in the National Gallery of Victoria, UQ Darnell Collection and Kelvin Grove College of Advanced Education, Brisbane.
This work was entered into the first Stanthorpe Arts Festival in 1972 and was acquired by the Stanthorpe Regional Art gallery. The work depicts a wooden storage apple box which was used at the time for fruit transport.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Janet Mansfield OAM (1934-2013) had a major impact on Australian and international ceramics. She established a magazine "Ceramics: Art and Perception," a high-quality journal dedicated to ceramic art. As a master potter, she made strong woodfire and salt-glazed works, many of which now reside in public and private collections.
In 1987 she was awarded an Order Of Australia Medal for services to art and ceramics.
new home for art
1982-1991
The 1980s consolidated and extended Stanthorpe’s artistic endeavour and its facilities. The Stanthorpe Art Festival (now the Stanthorpe Art Prize) had become a significant regional art competition in Australia, attracting hundreds of entries from local, national, and international artists. Artworks acquired from this event swelled the Shire’s art collection to the point that a permanent home was needed to store and exhibit the artworks.
Elsewhere in town, performing arts also had a new home, with the Stanthorpe Little Theatre opening in 1983 on its current site.
Not long thereafter, the new Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery and Library provided a focal point for the local arts community. Opening its doors in 1987, the gallery hosted exhibitions of painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, woodwork, embroidery, and children’s art as well as touring exhibitions from other regional, state, and national galleries. Stanthorpe’s gallery has also attracted donations of artworks from prominent collectors.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Carolyn Dodds (1953 -) was born in Australia and has lived in the Brisbane region for many years. A printmaker, she has worked in wood engravings, linocuts and lithographs.
The Subtle Alchemist, a commission for the Queensland Winemakers Association, addresses the Catholic concept of transubstantiation but derives its title from a line in The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The original block for this work is also in our collection.
SRAG collection.
The architecture of Stanthorpe Art Gallery and Library is part of Blair Wilson’s brickwork oeuvre. The design, beautifully set within Weeroona Park, defers to its setting. The Gallery entry via a small pavilion has its roots in picturesque 18th-century English landscapes.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Sue Whitton (1947-) was born in Stanthorpe and has spent over 50 years as an artist, exploring painting, textiles and printmaking, but always returned to pottery. She was a member of the first Art Gallery committee and is a life member of Stanthorpe Pottery Club. Her pottery mentor was Ian McKay who taught her how to throw and introduced her to Japanese and Korean pottery.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Dr Ruth Yolanda Smout (nee Cilento) (1925-2016), sculptor and physician, was the daughter of noted physicians Sir Raphael West Cilento and Lady Phyllis Cilento.
Dr Cilento set up the Eukey Sun Powered Complex, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, a series of buildings and structures built to demonstrate design principles for using renewable energy.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Kathleen Shillam (née O’Neill) AM (1916–2002) was an acclaimed Brisbane-based sculptor. She was born in England and arrived in Australia in 1927. A work by her husband, Leonard, another noted Brisbane sculptor, is also part of the Stanthorpe Gallery’s collection
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Charles (Chas) Ludlow (1923-2015) was a painter, musician, poet, photographer and inventor. He was born in Applethorpe and graduated dux of Stanthorpe State High School in 1938. His art, mostly watercolours, was exhibited widely from the mid-1960s onwards.
Courtesy Harslett family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Belinda Perkins (nee Smith) (1957-) specialises in water colour and solar plate etching, focusing on landscape, native birds and all things rural.
Belinda grew up at Amiens, near Stanthorpe, and is now based on a property near Dirranbandi. From her life on the land, her landscapes appear to capture the very essence of such a life and the beauty of it. Belinda is also a bird and horse enthusiast, such knowledge and passion for the animals shines through her work.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Albert Verschuuren (1946–) was born in the Netherlands. He trained in studio ceramics in Canada. Since 1978, Albert has practiced his ceramic art in Amiens, near Stanthorpe. He fires with wood and prepares clay bodies and glazes from local materials. This work was wheel-thrown in stoneware clay and fired to 1300º C.
He continues to practice his ceramic art at his studio in the Granite Belt.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Gwyn Hanssen Pigott (1935-2013) was born in Ballarat and was one of Australia's most recognised ceramic artists. She studied under Ivan McMeekin, and focused on functional ceramics. She received the Order of Australia Medal in 2002 for her contribution to the field of ceramics.
cultural explosion
1992-2001
Despite an extended drought in the 1990s, tourism flourished along with the expansion of the wine industry and imaginative promotions and events. These included the Granite Belt Spring Wine Festival, Brass Monkey Season, the Legacy Flanders Poppy Festival, the Rotary Club’s Opera in the Vineyard, and the Australian Small Winemakers Show. All brought steadily increasing popularity of the region to visitors. The Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery became a popular venue.
Local artists continued to produce, and exhibit works across the diversity of art practices. These included botanical and entomological paintings and drawings, portraiture, sculptures in timber and metal, ceramics, photographs, paintings in oil, watercolour and acrylics, and in fabrics.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Don Heron (1970-) was born in Mackay and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) degree at the Queensland University of Technology. In the 1990s he spent some time in the Granite Belt region working on landscapes in oil. From his first visit, he was attracted to this temperate region’s highly distinctive topography and vegetation.
He is now the Assistant Director, Exhibitions Management and Design at the National Gallery of Victoria.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Jo Dickson (1971–) is an artist, interior and building designer. During visits to her grandmother’s property near Stanthorpe her grandmother taught her about painting and art. Specialising in printmaking, painting, clay sculpture and pottery, her work has been exhibited in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, England, USA and Canada and has been acquired for international collections.
![Iconogeoffrey [Geoff Hannah- subject], Christopher Humphreys, 2001](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63a12acefc6e733c38dfee90/1673332321022-WNGRZMN5FMZ7LXSCQL9V/image-asset.jpeg)
SRAG collection.
Christopher Humphreys (1945-2012) was a Tenterfield-based artist who exhibited in a number of exhibitions in the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery during the 1990s and 2000s. He worked with wood, linocuts, granite, metals, and marble.
He created the infamous "Brass Monkey" sculpture on the corner of Railway and Maryland Streets, Stanthorpe.
He served as the president of the Stanthorpe Art Gallery Society and as Chairman of the Stanthorpe Art Prize.
Courtesy Harslett family. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
The artist Dr Hilda Bryzenski was the first candidate for a PhD. from the distinguished course in wildlife illustration unique to Newcastle. She won first place in the Black and White Illustration Competition held in conjunction with the 28th AGM and Scientific Conference of the Australian Entomological Society held in Melbourne in 1997. Dr Bryzenski lives in Stanthorpe.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Kaye Green (1953-) was born in Tasmania and studied in Japan, Hobart and the USA. Her main medium is lithography but she also creates relief prints, drawings and artist’s books. Kaye has won a number of national awards and has exhibited nationally and internationally.
This sketch book was compiled while Kaye was artist in residence at Girraween National Park, Queensland in October 1993.
Looking back, looking forward
2002-2011
The centenaries of Federation in 2001 and the declaration of Stanthorpe Shire in 2003 were opportunities to reflect on 100 years of change. The mood was realised in artworks that paid tribute to pioneer history as part of the beautification of Maryland Street. The Roll Up Tree—a gathering place for miners in the early years of the settlement—was commemorated in the new Farley Piazza, being one of the first of many public artworks to be installed in and around the town centre.
Stanthorpe Shire celebrated its centenary with a locally written, directed and produced musical extravaganza that was performed to capacity audiences in the Stanthorpe Civic Centre. The celebrations were a last hurrah for the shire, which was soon to become part of the Southern Downs Region Arts culture.
Stanthorpe’s decade was bookended by the tragic bushfires of 2002, and the floods of 2011.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Thomas (Tom) Spence (1952-2013) grew up on a sheep station in outback Queensland and moved to Stanthorpe in 2003 from the Blue Mountains.
"Stanthorpe has an energy about it that makes it a great place for artists." Thomas Spence, Stanthorpe Border Post, 2005.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Elspeth Cameron (1949-2016) worked in many artistic fields, printmaking, drawing, painting, photography and art history. She was a respected and integral member of the Stanthorpe Art Gallery Society for many years, Borderline Regional Arts Association and the Botanical Artists' Society of Queensland.
In this plan for the Tin Tree sculpture in Farley Piazza, she sketched out her ideas for the street art piece. The Tin Tree represents the Roll-up Tree which was a large eucalyptus in the early days of Stanthorpe, under which public meetings and speeches were held.
SRAG collection.
Bogdan Dlugosz (1956-) was born in Tarnów, Poland and migrated with his family to Australia in 1981.
His artistic talents emerged relatively late in life, with his first paintings appearing in the mid-1990s. One of his major achievements was in 1996, when he received his first paid commission: a large painting for the boardroom of Queensland Cotton Holdings Ltd. Clocktower, was painted a few years after he had the opportunity to access the top of the tower and was inspired by the view across the town.
Bogdan and his wife divide their time between Stanthorpe and Brisbane.
SRAG collection.
Julie Shepherd is a ceramic artist from bayside Brisbane. She creates exquisite functional and sculptural artworks using pierced and translucent fine porcelain clay. Her works express the fragility life.
Oz Pods are inspired by the natural environment – both its precarious balance and inherent resilience. Julie’s practice of piercing objects has resulted from observing nature’s lacelike structures through an electron microscope.
This work won the 2002 Stanthorpe Arts Festival ceramics prize and is part of the permanent collection.
SRAG collection.
Justin Bishop was the Director of the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery from 2008-2010.
He has worked as an artist and arts worker across Queensland since his tenure in Stanthorpe. This has included Indigenous Art Centre management, Director of KickArts Contemporary Arts and roles on various Arts Organisation Board's. Bishop's arts practice extends across artistic disciplines printmaking, painting, installation, video and music.
He resides in Cairns and continues to make art.
culture and community
2012-2021
The last ten years have been exciting. The large community of talented artists, ceramicists, sculptors, photographers, and fabric workers has grown as more have moved into the district. The Gallery has lifted its local, state, and national profile with four Art Prizes this decade, adding its first national Photography Awards in 2021.
Stanthorpe has become home to an art collective (Artworks), the Granite Belt Arts Trail, and Art in the Mill. Street art has sprung up in Stanthorpe and further afield. The community now anticipates an expansion of their regional gallery and library through initiatives of the Southern Downs Regional Council, Gallery and Library staff and volunteers.
The artworks you see in this exhibition are but a small sample of the talented artists who have contributed to 150 years of Stanthorpe’s creativity.
SRAG collection.
Lloyd Nolan Hornsby (1947-) is a Koori Elder, descendent of the Yuin people from the South Coast of New South Wales. His passion and talent for art manifested in childhood and developed while in his adolescence.
Lloyd Gawura Hornsby’s work comes together using the traditional dot technique; his strong knowledge base of sketching and drawing are evident in the detail with his bold use of colour to finish the experience.
He runs the Gawugra Gallery in Glen Innes.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Arora De Vries (1999-) was born and raised in Ballandean, and is a descendant of the Kamilaroi/Gamilaraay people of the Hunter Valley region. She draws on this heritage and connection to culture as inspiration for her work. The title of this work, Ngambaa Yuluwirri, directly translates to “Mother Rainbow” in my ancestors' (the Gamilaraay peoples) tongue.
The piece depicts Garriya, resting, deep below the Boobera lagoon, surrounded by the Rainbow she left in her wake as she slithered across the country, bringing the world to life.
SRAG collection.
Denis Brockie (1947-) was born in New Zealand and settled in the Granite Belt in 1977. He is a landscape and abstract painter, who has won the 2006, 2009 and 2015 d’Arcy Doyle Landscape Prize and the 2012 Stanthorpe Regional Art Prize. The granite landscape is a major theme of his works.
Courtesy Dan McArthur and Joe Shorter. Photograph by Rob Allen.
Brisbane born (1955–), Rob studied design at the Queensland Institute of Technology. After a career as an exhibition designer and illustrator at the Queensland Museum, Rob left to pursue his goal of making art. He also volunteers at the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
Courtesy Maggie Brockie.
Maggie Brockie (1948–) is a local artist. Born in Tasmania, she has lived in the Granite Belt region since 1977 and began playing with clay in 1994. She committed to sculpture after attending Clay Sculpt, a major ceramic ‘Event’, in Gulgong in 1996. This work was created for ‘Common Ground’, an exhibition with Rod McIntosh held at Inverell Art Gallery in 2016.
The Eastern Carpet Python, Morelia spilota mcdowelli, is Eastern Australia's most familiar python. Extremely variable in colour and markings and while not common in the area is found on the Granite Belt.
The Backpacker Mural is located next to the Stanthorpe Post Office, and is a tribute to the thousands of backpackers who make Stanthorpe their temporary home every year. Backpackers are an essential part of Stanthorpe’s economy as they bring many hands to carry out the important labour in Granite Belt orchards and vegetable fields.
This painting is based on an original image by local artist Laurie Astill and brought to life with the assistance of local artists Dean Ford and Julie Brown.
Over the past decade local artist have added dozens of public art to the streets and surrounds of Stanthorpe. Find out more about Stanthorpe Street Art.
SRAG collection. Photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Carmelo Pennisi (1927–2019) was mainly self-taught. One of the founding members of the Stanthorpe Pottery Club, he used local clays to create his ceramic works.