Trust News August 2015

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VO LU M E 9 N O 3 AU G U S T 2 0 1 5

TRUST

news

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INSIDE >

RIPPON LEA FUNDING

NATIONAL TRUST

Australia

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10 SAVING LANGUAGE

28 AVENUES OF HONOUR

HOU WANG ARCHAEOLOGY


Discover Australia’s National Trust heritage places and have a great day out! National Trust members gain FREE and discounted entry* *except for special events

www.nationaltrust.org.au


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Inside

my W O R D

ISSN: 1835-2316

with editor Gina Pickerin g

Vol 9 No 3 2015 Trust News is published quarterly for National Trust members and subscribers in February, May, August and November. Publication is coordinated by the National Trust of Australia (WA) on behalf of the National Trusts of Australia and supported by the Department of Environment. National Trust of Australia (WA) ABN 83 697 381 616 PO Box 1162 West Perth WA 6872 T: 08 9321 6088 F: 08 9324 1571 W:www.ntwa.com.au Editor: Gina Pickering gina.pickering@ntwa.com.au T: 08 9321 6088 Advertising: For advertising rates, contact the Editor. Design: Dessein Graphics Cover: ‘Steve’ the Golden Brushtail Possum from Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary Next Issue: November 2015 Copy deadline:10 September 2015 Please help us to save our environment and circulate this magazine as widely as possible. This magazine is printed on recyclable paper and packed in 100% degradable wrap. The views expressed in Trust News are not necessarily those of the National Trusts or the Department of Environment. The articles in this magazine are subject to copyright. No article may be used without the consent of the National Trust and the author.

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The Future of Heritage Protection

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Rippon Lea House and Gardens - new stories and new places

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Language of promise

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Australia’s Avenues of Honour: A Living Legacy

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New funding for Golden Pipeline

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2015 Heritage Festival Highlights

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A rare and colourful character

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A Shared Landscape

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Prisoners get their hands on heritage skills

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Prized ocean pools

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Portia Geach Memorial Award – 50 years promoting Australia’s women artists

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Heritage in the Making in Doha

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225th Anniversary of the wrecking of the Sirius

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‘As fast as a greyhound! A mouse the size of a greyhound!’

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Dundullimal – much more than a Slab Hut

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Roast Pork For Atherton Chinatown

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Zest Festival 2015 Taste and Desire: the Power of the Beautiful

In this edition of Trust News, National Trust places and programs awarded substantial funding to benefit communities on both sides of the country. Nationally listed Rippon Lea in Victoria will undergo a transformation in the lead up to the National Trust of Victoria’s 60th anniversary in 2016, while in the west, 560km of Goldfields Water Supply Scheme visitor experience will be revitalised. Also in this edition, an innovative conservation project trains prisoners in heritage skills. There’s a marvellous report on valuing ocean pools and anniversaries recognise women artists and the shipwreck of the Sirius. We look at the elegant living legacy of Australia’s Avenues of Honour and explore heritage in the making in one of the world’s richest countries. Oh yes, and meet Steve and Digger too! Enjoy

Gina Pickering | Editor

TRUST NEWS AUSTRALIA NOTIFICATION

As part of our commitment to sustainability, the November edition of Trust News Australia will be delivered as a digital magazine only. To ensure you receive a copy, contact your state or territory office and register your email.

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PERSPECTIVES

The Future of Heritage Protection QUEENSLAND SENATOR LARISSA WATERS | AUSTRALIAN GREENS DEPUTY LEADER AND SPOKESPERSON FOR ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE.

Australians right across our spectacularly diverse country share special connections with our bounty of natural and cultural heritage sites, regardless of whether they live in the same state as those sites.

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s a Queenslander, I feel a close connection with our Great Barrier Reef and I know the Reef is equally loved by others in every state and territory. The same can of course be said for so many of our treasures, such as the Tasmanian Wilderness, the Sydney Opera House, the Great Ocean Road and Ningaloo. The connection Australians have with these places that make up our national identity, even if they are hundreds of kilometres away, is one important reason for our national environment laws, in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Act protects the ‘best of the best’ — our most precious places and species, including World Heritage and national heritage and gives the federal environment Minister the power to refuse developments that would significantly damage these special places. The Minister must also conduct national consultation on those developments so that, regardless of where you live, you can have a say. TOP   Senator

Sadly, the Abbott Government is trying to give away these federal powers. They want to leave our national heritage sites, and even our World Heritage sites, in the, at times untrustworthy, hands of state and territory governments. Unfortunately, state governments have an appalling track record on cultural and environmental protection. Without federal intervention, there would today be oil rigs in the Great Barrier Reef; widespread grazing in the Alpine National Park and the Franklin River would be dammed. Thankfully, the Greens have been able to convince enough of the federal Senate that federal protections for our most precious places, which has been in place for decades, must remain. The Abbott Government is acting on behalf of big developers and mining companies with its plan to scrap federal heritage protection and I’m grateful and relieved that a majority of my fellow Senators understand how wrong this is.

Waters at a community rally for the protection of the Great Barrier Reef. Senator Water’s office Waters in the wet tropics. Senator Water’s office

RIGHT  Senator

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However, to ensure the safety of our national heritage for generations to come, the Abbott Government needs to drop this destructive agenda. Instead of threatening national heritage, the government should focus on improving its protection and working creatively to find new community engagement and tourism opportunities that can sustain interest in and management of our heritage. Our precious cultural and environmental icons are worth far more protected and offer more sustainable employment than the short-term destructive fossil fuel industries that can damage them, both on-the-ground and through climate change. Australia needs to join in the global transition to a low carbon future by embracing renewable energy and dramatically reducing carbon pollution in order to allow future generations to enjoy our national heritage as we have.


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NEW STORIES AND NEW PLACES ALIX HILL PROJECT MANAGER | NATIONAL TRUST (VIC)

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This year at

Rippon Lea the National Trust in Victoria will

undertake a $2.3million project, securing the nationally listed site for the future. As a recipient of one of only 18 Department of Environment Protecting National Historic Sites grants, this will be one of the largest projects ever realised at the site, ensuring the Trust’s capacity to support the increasing number of visitors to this major heritage attraction.

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ext year marks the National Trust in Victoria’s 60th anniversary and completion of this project over the next 18 months will open new areas to the community and integrate social, education and retail spaces within a new precinct and community hub. Interpretation of this area, including the relocated original conservatory to the site, is a major focus of the project. The Department of the Environment’s generous commitment of $985,446, through the Protecting National Historic Sites program, and $10,000 specifically for interpretation, through the Community Heritage and Icons grant, will ensure Rippon Lea’s long-term security through new commercial

ABOVE

developments, community engagement, conservation works and interpretation. Making accessible the site’s working buildings and staff areas including the stables, coach house, chauffer’s residence, kitchens, gatehouse, conservatory and children’s wing, will enable us to tell the untold stories of the people who worked at this magnificent urban estate. Earlier this year, the National Trust saved from demolition one of the Benjamin Nathan era conservatories. The large Victorian cast iron glasshouse was relocated from Caulfield Park to Rippon Lea where it will be erected and feature as a new source of interpretation of the sustainable use of a large working kitchen estate.

Rippon Lea was one of 18 nationally listed heritage places to receive a Department of Environment Protecting National Historic Sites grant. NTVic

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The significant collection of tree ferns previously housed in the conservatory were also saved and relocated to Rippon Lea’s magnificent fernery, the largest in the Southern hemisphere. Rippon Lea under Benjamin Nathan’s ownership between 1910 and 1935 had a national reputation for its orchid and plant collection. At the time of his death on 1935, The Argus reported that “there are 24 glass houses containing 2,700 plants, and to tend to them and the garden of 20 acres 20 gardeners are employed.” The lives of these gardeners, their counterparts throughout the estate, their domestic environments and the community who kept the estate a thriving social community will be the

focus of the estate-wide interpretation. Working with Traditional Owners, the National Trust is undertaking an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Survey of the estate to inform interpretation and programming through this major project. Promoting engagement with our vibrant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and acknowledging prior custodianship of the land is at the forefront of the Trust’s 201416 Reconciliation Action Plan. This significant interpretation and conservation project will bring Rippon Lea, and our shared heritage, to life for generations of Australians to come.

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of Rippon Lea, 1933. University of Melbourne Archives Anderson family. Adam Anderson seated on the left was head gardener between 1882 and 1903. NTVic CENTRE  The spectacular cast iron glasshouse at Rippon Lea. G Pickering BOTTOM RIGHT   The working garden 1880c. NTVic TOP RIGHT  The

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Language of promise GINA PICKERING | EDITOR

The Goldfield’s region in Western Australia has always been resource rich, however its linguistic

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wealth is undergoing new appreciation.

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he National Trust of Western Australia’s Ngalia Foundation has attracted Federal funding and international attention for its work in language preservation. Its commitment over the past four years has focused on three highly endangered and three severely endangered Aboriginal languages. The language program has allocated a remaining budget of $195,000 to continue its work during 2015-2016 and the Ngalia Foundation has been invited to apply for further four years funding by the Australian Government, to expand its scope in the Goldfields including establishing a language centre. Sue Hanson, linguist with the project, said an extended program would support up to fourteen languages in the region. “It would enable language speakers of the region to continue to preserve their critically endangered linguistic and cultural heritage,” she said. Kado Muir, Ngalia Foundation Chairperson said funding was stretched to ensure the preservation of six of the region’s most critically endangered languages. “Successful new funding would mean we could establish a Goldfields Aboriginal language centre and work with all the language groups of the area, including a couple of languages that have yet to be studied.” A few of the languages are well used and we would aim to ensure they stay this way through the development of resources to aid speakers to keep the languages alive and current,” Mr Muir said.

Gilbert is one of the Goldfield Aboriginal Language Program contributors. K Dreessen Gilbert at Dingo Pool on Ngalia land at Wanjarri Station. K Dreessen

BACKGROUND  Irandia

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While the existing program aims to document each language and produce resources to facilitate and encourage the language’s use, it also brings additional benefits to families and communities at a very personal level. Geraldine Hogarth, Kuwarra speaker described language as the carried of culture. “We always try to respect one another’s culture and history, that’s what we are trying to do here. Language is important to know the foundation of who you are as a human being,” she said. There is an urgency associated with this work as Elders who have fluency in highly endangered languages pass away, and with them their language. Sue Hanson explained it is a race against time in many ways, however new resources would allow us to expand our work and record the languages at risk which brings a worldwide benefit. “Each language carries masses of information about the land, culture, plants, animals, insects and people it is associated with. If we lose a language, we lose a library of information.” The Ngalia’s Linguistic team will be back in the Goldfields later this month.

THE TARGET LANGUAGES OF THE REGION FOR THE PERIOD 2012-16 ARE:

ABOVE  The

Goldfields Language Program benefits present and future generations by preserving culture. K Dreessen

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Australia’s Avenues of Honour: A Living Legacy DAVID LAWRY AND GLENN WILLIAMS, TREENET WITH DR DARREN PEACOCK | NATIONAL TRUST (SA)

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Avenue of Honour and Victory Arch. S Wood Avenue of Honour, Eurack, Victoria. S Wood BOTTOM INSERT  Honoured soldier Pte R K Barry. S Wood TOP INSERT

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n this year of commemoration for the events and sacrifices of the First World War, one project is building on a remarkable legacy, Australia’s living heritage, our Avenues of Honour. The arboreal Avenue of Honour has been an enduring and popular form of public commemoration of military service in Australia. More than any other people, Australians have chosen to recognise service and sacrifice through community plantings of memorial trees. The earliest recorded Avenues were created in response to Australia’s participation in the Boer War, with the majority established during and after World War I and to a lesser extent, after World War II. For the past ten years TREENET, a national notfor-profit environmental organisation based in Adelaide has led an initiative to honour with a tree, the memory of every individual who has made the supreme sacrifice on behalf of all Australians. At the start of the project there was no consolidated record of these avenues, although some, such as the one at Ballarat in Victoria, were very well known. With help from people around the nation the project has now identified more than 570 avenues. TREENET has also successfully sponsored the planting of new avenues and the restoration of others. Although the 1917 Ballarat Avenue of Honour is the most recognised in Australia due to its scale and the prominent memorial arch spanning the highway, it was preceded by the Eurack Avenue, also in regional Victoria. It is thought to be the first to link names of individuals to trees. Each tree honours local soldiers who had enlisted by 1916. All of the 26 elms (Ulmus x hollandica) in the 100 metre-long, recently restored Avenue, are marked with a painted concrete cross replacing the original wooden ones, bearing the names of those it commemorates, on a black marble plate. By 2000, many of the Avenues of Honour had disappeared completely, had lost so many trees that they were no longer avenues, or the trees within them were in serious decline. Some were completely lost to road widening projects in the 1960s and 70s. The establishment of a website presenting the current data held by TREENET about known avenues has significantly raised the profile of the Avenues of Honour project. It has brought forth new information and a groundswell of public interest and support. See www.avenuesofhonour.org We welcome any information you can provide to complete the picture of Australia’s avenues and support our efforts to restore and replant avenues across the nation.

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Conservation, interpretation and installation upgrades

New funding for Golden Pipeline ANNE BRAKE | INTERPRETATION MANAGER NATIONAL TRUST (WA)

The National Trust of Western Australia has been awarded $734,290 over three years for conservation and interpretation of the nationally-listed Goldfields Water Supply Scheme (GWSS).

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he Protecting our National Historic Sites’ funding will continue to support conservation and interpretation of the GWSS along its 560km length between Mundaring Weir and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The project comprises three parts: the conservation and interpretation of No. 8 Pump Station, 50km west of Coolgardie (the most intact of the scheme), the upgrading and installation of public information along the trail, and the development of an online public education and learning program. $425,000 will fund conservation

of buildings at No. 8 Pump Station and will include a maintenance program, $30,000 will allow for detailed archaeological investigation of the site. $149,290 is allocated to public interpretation including directional and interpretive signage, as well as a further $20,000 for trail guides. Finally, $110,000 will fund a program which enables all documentation, photographs and related information on the GWSS to be made publicly available, making these materials more accessible to community, school and other groups.

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of the pipeline. NTWA/Forrest Family markers along the pipeline route highlight natural heritage experiences. G Pickering BACKGROUND  The pipeline east of Perth carves a dramatic path across the landscape. A Brake RIGHT  Trail

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Each element will greatly improve community awareness of the sites along the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme. The National Trust of Western Australia has managed the ‘Golden Pipeline’ (GWSS heritage sites and trail) since 1999 when the Water Corporation and others transferred significant heritage assets to the Trust. The Trust has developed an overall management plan including conservation, interpretation and public educational and learning programs. The National Trust works closely with the Water Corporation and the ten local governments along the pipeline to maintain the drive trail. Trail audits are undertaken every three to five years or when funding allows. The National Trust provides in-kind contributions at a minimum value of $50,000 per annum to ensure ongoing management of the heritage values of the GWSS. The project will improve conservation and access to this important national place and the new on-line program will greatly improve knowledge, awareness, understanding and commitment to the GWSS by local, national and international visitors and communities.


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HIGHLIGHTS

ABOVE  Rev Sealin Garlett delivers a Welcome to Country at Gallipolli Voices in Perth. G Pickering CENTRE  The National Trust’s Wimmera Branch supported the RSL on Anzac Day as part of the Heritage Festival. P Curkpatrick

This year’s festival theme, Conflict and Compassion encouraged communities across Australia to host an inspiring line up of local events and many offered moving acknowledgement of the centenary of the ANZAC landing.

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Heritage Award Winners and Highly Commended. Jonathan May Photography

LEFT  ANZAC Ceremony at Peninsula Farm, Perth. G Pickering ABOVE  Australian Heritage Week with Victoriana: Old-fashioned day of play at Beaumont House, Adelaide. NTSA

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Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary has introduced its latest edition - ‘Digger’ the baby brushtail possum and he’s quite a handful. The five month old is no regular possum and is very special to not only Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, but to his kind in general as he is a Golden Brushtail possum, the rarest possum in Australia. The golden gene is caused by a rare genetic mutation, acquired directly from a parent – in this case by father ‘Steve’, who is also a Golden Brushtail and one of the Sanctuary’s residents. Digger received his name as the result of a competition held on Facebook, offering members of the public the chance to be forever linked to this rare and captivating ‘ginge’ by naming him. After receiving many wonderful options, Digger was the unanimous favourite, especially as Anzac Day was approaching. While still young, Digger spends his days curled up safely with mum ‘Brenda’ (a common brushtail), but has recently started spending time out of her pouch. Although Common Brushtails are widespread through Mainland Australia, the Golden form has only been found in the eucalypt forests of Tasmania and south of Sydney. ABOVE   ‘Digger’

the newest attraction. has passed on the gene which carries the eye catching golden fur. Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

RIGHT  ‘Steve’

A rare and colourful character NANCY RUSCITTI MARKETING COORDINATOR | CURRUMBIN WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, NATIONAL TRUST (QLD)

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A Shared Landscape PAUL ROSER | SENIOR MANAGER ADVOCACY & CONSERVATION NATIONAL TRUST (VIC)

The Sunbury Rings Cultural Landscape is a shared cultural landscape associated with Aboriginal settlement and land use, and the first settlement of Port Phillip by Europeans in the 1830s. It is a place of living cultural heritage and ongoing significance for the Traditional Owners, the Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council (the Wurundjeri), and is currently under threat by suburban expansion in Melbourne’s north-west.

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ackson Creek cuts deeply into the local basalt plains and is the dominating topographical feature of the area, running from Rupertswood in the south a distance of 5km up the valley to Emu Bottom homestead. The rich alluvial flats contributed to making Jackson Creek an important source of food for both Aboriginal people and European settlers. The three earth rings that give the landscape its name, and which are now managed by the Wurundjeri, are some of the most significant Aboriginal cultural sites in Victoria. An archaeological survey was carried out in 1979 by Professor David Frankel of La Trobe University who identified the rings as Aboriginal, but was unable to deliver a conclusion as to their

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use due to the lack of information about such sites in the Victorian region. Similar (bora) rings in New South Wales are known to have been used for rituals, especially in relation to initiation ceremonies. The Sunbury Rings Cultural Landscape is h i s t o r i c a l ly significant because of its role as a key place of interaction between people and the land over thousands of years. Wurundjeri Elders Bobby Mullins, Ron Jones, and Allan Wandin said “the landscape is a ceremonial core of Aboriginal culture.” The landscape testifies to the changes that have taken place in Victoria since European settlement and read as a whole presents a clear historical narrative of the history of Aboriginal land use and European settlement of the

greater Melbourne region. Elders Bobby Mullins, Ron Jones, and Allan Wandin believe that “today, it is all part of a shared landscape. It is also for future generations, for indigenous and non-indigenous alike.” The landscape is now under threat from development and new infrastructure. There is currently a development proposal to subdivide land along the western side of the valley and with only one crossing over Jackson Creek there is pressure for a new bridge to be built across the valley, which could have a severe impact on the cultural landscape values. The National Trust continues to work with Wurundjeri and other local groups to advocate for protection of this highly sensitive landscape.

fenced off area contains one of the earth rings which is now managed by the Wurundjeri, providing a tangible link to Indigenous land use.

J Hood. NTVic 15

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Prisoners get their hands on heritage skills ERIC HANCOCK | CONSERVATION PROJECT OFFICER NATIONAL TRUST (WA)

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conservation on Campbell House, Geraldton WA (18 – 29 May 2015)

ABOVE LEFT  Cliff

Grange, an 1858 stone building received conservation work inside and out. (21 – 25 July 2014) works completed on poultry buildings, Whitby Falls WA (8 – 2 December 2014)

ABOVE RIGHT  Masonry

Prisoners have completed four conservation training courses and improved the condition of heritage listed buildings in Western Australia thanks to a successful partnership between the National Trust of Western Australia and the Department of Corrective Services.

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he partnership with Corrective Services gives prisoner participants the unique opportunity to train in heritage conservation skills under the guidance of experienced craftsmen. The projects undertaken during the past year have focused on public assets that have value to local communities. The Trust identified four sites where supervised prisoners would undergo site-specific training across one or two weeks of intensive hands-on work. They included Cliff Grange at Greenough, Whitby Falls at Serpentine, Avondale Farm near Beverly and Campbell House in Geraldton. Sourcing qualified workers with the appropriate skills and knowledge to undertake conservation work on heritage buildings is a significant challenge. Building company, Heritage Stone Restoration (HSR), which has extensive experience in heritage restoration and has completed similar training projects with prisoners on the east coast was integral to the program.

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Through HSR’s training arm, Applied Building Conservation Training (ABCT), participants learned how to apply appropriate materials and basic artisan skills in stonemasonry, heritage brickwork, solid rendering, limewashing, lath & plaster, carpentry, timber conservation, galvanised iron roofing, specialist façade cleaning, painting and other conservation skills. The prisoner participants were all volunteers nearing the end of their sentences. They are approved to work outside the prison and have gained this privilege through good behaviour and attendance of preparatory training courses. They worked a long day, leaving the prison at 7.30 am and returning at 5 pm. However it was an opportunity to work with a master craftsman, who set high expectations in terms of quality of work, occupational health and safety procedures, timeliness and team work.

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Feedback from prisoners via the Department of Corrective Services was very positive. Confidence grew as projects evolved and a number of the men have been inspired to seek work or further training in related areas, on release. The Trust has a considerable number of building structures in need of conservation around the state and there are potentially hundreds of weeks of conservation training projects available. The prisoner conservation training courses answer a need for an increase in conservation skills in the building trades and bring long term community benefit.

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trained in conservation skills under the guidance of experienced craftsmen. E Hancock INSERT  Working at Avondale, one of the National Trust of Western Australia’s regional properties. E Hancock

ABOVE  Re-roofing

and timber works completed on Avondale Stables, WA (13 – 24 April 2015).

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CONNECTIONS

Prized ocean pools MARIE-LOUISE MCDERMOTT

BACKGROUND  Ocean INSERT

pool at Bulli on the Illawarra coast, 2001. M McDermott Mahon Pool at Maroubra on Sydney Eastern Beaches, 2002. M McDermott

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wimming in an ocean pool is never just a matter of going fast or following a black line. Ocean pools, public seawater pools sited on a surfcoast where waves can wash into the pool, offer a wilder swimming experience than indoor pools, inground pools and other types of seawater pools. On milder days, chain surfing on the pool walls is a thrilling game for youngsters. On wilder days, experienced surf swimmers can be washed out of ocean pools. High seas can fill ocean pools with froth and submerge the pool walls. Australia’s 100+ ocean pools remain popular, prized swimming environments affording bathers and swimmers valued protection against the hazards posed by surf, rips and sharks. They provide surfside communities with a public pool not dependent on townwater supplies and a safer alternative to swimming at unpatrolled surf beaches. Most are located in New South Wales, which has hosted ocean pools since the nineteenth century. After the 1960s, heated public pools became more affordable and commonplace in Australia’s surfside communities. Ocean pools then became less important as a means of attracting residents, campers and other tourists to a surfcoast, but more likely to attract swimmers, photographers and other artists year round. Enthusiasm for developing ocean pools, seawater pools and swimming enclosures at surf beaches has, however, recently escalated in Western Australia, where a spate of well-publicised fatal shark attacks had caused a marked drop in beachgoing.

While campaigns to develop, redevelop, sustain or even heritage list ocean pools have demonstrated their capacity to galvanise Australian communities, those campaigns have usually focused on individual pools or local government areas. A new nonprofit organisation, All into Ocean Pools Inc., aims to change this by advocating for and supporting the ongoing celebration, study and use of ocean pools within and beyond Australia. This year, it will be making its first annual awards for writing and for artworks (visual and performing arts) relating to ocean pools.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION about All into Ocean Pools Inc., email allintooceanpoolsinc@mail.tidyclub.com

Marie-Louise McDermott is the chairperson of All into Ocean Pools Inc. Her PhD thesis was titled Wet, wild and convivial: Past, present and future contributions of Australia’s ocean pools to surf, beach, pool and body cultures and recreational coasts.

TOP  Ocean

pool at Avalon on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, 2002. M McDermott pool at The Entrance on the NSW Central Coast, 2001. M McDermott BOTTOM  Mahon Pool at Maroubra on Sydney Eastern Beaches, 2007. M McDermott CENTRE  Ocean

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CONNECTIONS

Portia Geach Memorial Award – 50 years promoting Australia’s women artists CLAIRE DALGLEISH | CURATORIAL ASSISTANT S.H. ERVIN GALLERY NATIONAL TRUST (NSW)

The Portia Geach Memorial Award was established 50 years ago and provides $30,000 each year in prize money to the winning female artist ‘for the best portrait painted from life of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, or the Sciences.’

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ortia Geach was a key figure of her time from an affluent family that allowed her the liberty to be a progressive artist and social activist. She was particularly famed for her championing of women’s rights and equality – she even employed a female chauffeur to drive her Buick motorcar. Looking back on the prize and its place within our national art history it is undeniable that it

has influenced the way female Australian artists have been received and remains as significant and relevant today as it was 50 years ago. Comparison to prizes of a similar stature which are open to both men and women, such as the Archibald, highlights the importance of gender restrictions. By 1965, when the Portia Geach Memorial Award was established,

LEFT  Jude

Rae Self portrait 2008 (the year my husband left), 2008 winner Sharpe Self portrait with students, after Adelaide Labille-Guiard, oil on canvas, 1995 winner RIGHT  Prudence Flint Scrambled egg, oil on linen, 2010 winner CENTRE  Wendy

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only two women, Nora Heysen and Judy Cassab, had won the Archibald Prize — in 1938 and 1960 respectively. By 2015, 91 years since the Archibald was inaugurated, only 11 women have won the highly regarded prize. Modern women struggle to obtain balance between work, family, and relationships. The Portia Geach Award creates a forum for female artists to


Between the lines TOM PRICE: FROM STONECUTTER TO PREMIER AUTHOR:

STEPHANIE MCCARTHY

PUBLISHER: WAKEFIELD PRESS, ADELAIDE REVIEWER: MARCUS BERESFORD NATIONAL TRUST (SA)

articulate these conversations and each year artists submit portraits that reference social, political, and personal themes. The Award has also established a platform from which artists can form connections with their contemporaries and develop their professional networks. It provides an opportunity for emerging and established female artists to build their exhibiting profile and open doors to new ventures. It is a showcase for high profile artists such as Wendy Sharpe, Prudence Flint and Ann Cape as well as for younger artists such as Mirra Whale, Laura Jones, Tamara Dean, and Clara Adolphs. To honour the legacy of Portia Geach and celebrate the 50th anniversary, the Gallery will dedicate an area in the 2015 Award Exhibition to the display of Geach’s own works. This will be accompanied by a lively public program series, exclusive events, and educational workshops. FOR INFORMATION  visit

www.shervingallery.com. au Exhibition: S. H. Ervin Gallery from 18 September – 25 October 2015.

ABOVE  Sophie

Cape Romper stomper (portrait of actor Daniel Wylie) acrylic, oil, bitumen, charcoal, and soil on canvas, 2014 winner

Only two men can claim to have helped build a Parliament House and then become premier of the state whose legislature it housed. Two South Australians have that distinction: Tom Price was one, Frank Walsh the other. This remarkable new biography of Price will be a revelation to many. He wasn’t the first Labor premier in Australia – Andrew Dawson in Queensland has that honour – but he was the first to stay in office for more than a year. In coalition with liberals, Price enjoyed a stable four years of government between 1905 and 1909. Premier Price was popular with South Australians. Price cut fine South Australian marble for the south front of Parliament House, built between 1883 and 1889. In 1884 he also cut stone for another heritage building, the SA Harbours Board in Adelaide’s Victoria Square. In 1979 the façade of this building was moved 34 metres north to make way for a new building. Price’s stone survived the move. So should his political legacy. Born in Wales, Price began work in Liverpool as a nine-yearold apprentice. His political achievements in Australia were significant. He worked with liberal Premier Charles Kingston to give women and Aborigines in South Australia the vote in 1894. He saw through a Factory Act against sweatshop conditions of workers and improved secondary education. Presciently, he saw the need to improve the sharing of Murray River water resources and electrified Adelaide’s tramways. He died at 57, a victim of stonecutter’s lung disease. The author of this fine biography is Price’s great-granddaughter. Her portrait of him is positive, but the book is not hagriographic. She recounts many unflattering views held of Price by politicians and newspapers. She also includes a number of delightful newspaper cartoons, some cruelly satirising Price. The book could have been strengthened by attention to less popular aspects of his government such as restrictions on liquor supply – no doubt the product in part of Price’s childhood with an alcoholic father. The pace of the narrative is good. It slows a bit in the middle, but becomes a real page-turner for Price’s later years. Undeservedly, Price is now little known. This biography will help to correct that. National Trust members can buy this book at a discounted price of $32 from www.wakefieldpress.com.au (enter the codeword ‘Trust’ under Redeem Special Offers.

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Heritage in the Making in Doha JENNY GREGORY | HEAD OF SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

In Qatar, there’s always something to do. You can play world-class golf, cycle along hundreds of miles of desert off road, take road-trips to beaches, hunt for fossils or get lost in the moment of a brilliantly crafted scene of desert dunes at the inland Sea.

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hat’s the official version from the Doha Tourist Authority but I didn’t experience any of those must dos. Mine was a cultural tour of Doha during eight days in June, when the weather was hot — regularly 45 degrees Celsius — and desert dust storms were a daily occurrence. Doha is a remarkable city. Capital of Qatar, it is perched on the western side of a peninsula in the Persian Gulf, washed by the Arabian Sea and backed by desert. Qatar, a British Protectorate until 1971 when it was handed back to

the traditional ruling family, has only one land border, Saudi Arabia. It is an absolute monarchy. In 1947, Doha was largely a fishing and pearling town. The pearling industry was in decline, but oil had been discovered. Today, Qatar is one of the world’s leading exporters of petroleum and natural gas and is the world’s richest economy per capita. The population of around 1.8m is dominated by 1.5m expatriates. Development, made possible by oil and gas, has been extraordinary. The glittering towers of at least 30

ABOVE  Museum RIGHT  The

of Islamic Art, Corniche, Doha. N van der Linden. http://gulfartguide.com/about/ spectacular Doha skyline. Y Ibrahim

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skyscrapers, none of which existed ten years ago, mark the skyline of Doha’s city centre. Qatar will host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and this has fuelled most of the development currently underway by government and multinational corporations — a railway system, n e w h ig hw ay s , h o s p it al s , educational and sporting facilities and The Pearl, a huge development on land reclaimed from the sea and now sporting a marina, high end apartments, hotels and shops. Funding has also gone into the development of cultural


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institutions. A National Council for Art, Culture and Heritage is chaired by HE Sheik Saud al-Thani. A National Museum of Qatar, designed by acclaimed French architect Jean Nouvel already lauded for one of Doha’s most striking office towers, is currently taking shape. Doha’s built heritage is not forgotten amongst all this fastpaced development. The spotlight shone on heritage in 2014 when the 38th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee met in Doha, and the Prime Minister announced a donation of $10m to establish a new fund to assist World Heritage sites affected by conflict or natural disaster. Heritage is part of Qatar’s National Cultural Sector Strategy. It is seen along with culture and the arts, as a means of strengthening social cohesion and national identity, creating an innovative and dynamic cultural sector and enhancing Qatar’s role as a regional and international hub for cultural exchange. On the one hand this speaks of a nineteenth century understanding of heritage as a means of legitimizing the nation state, on the other it suggests a holistic understanding of heritage that many in the west have been slow to grasp. Heritage is largely corralled into the ‘historic centre’ of Doha, with the new museums nearby. Souq Waqif is in the historic centre. On the site of an old Bedouin marketplace, it was ‘restored’ after falling into disrepair. Only the oldest buildings were retained, ramshackle additions and newer buildings were demolished, replaced with stone and wooden shops carefully crafted in traditional style. The cobbled winding lanes, the Aladdin’s treasure trove of shops laden with rolls of fabrics and pashminas, jewellery and trinkets, all date

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from only 2006. Yet it remains a functioning market for locals and visitors alike, where locals buy everything from traditional robes to plastic washing baskets and visitors marvel at such novelties as a taxidermist’s shop displaying stuffed eagles, lions, pumas, peacocks and even a large Rottweiler sprawled out as if asleep – all presided over by a live ginger cat watching his master at work on the head of an oryx, Qatar’s national animal. This overview suggests that two responses to the idea of heritage are at play in this extraordinary city. Although most of Doha’s buildings have only a short history, as well as architectural achievement, its most outstanding signify an extraordinary period of development and will surely demand heritage listing in the future. On the other hand those places which have been remade but whose historic purpose has been retained, like the Souq Waqif, will continue to hold memories of place for residents and visitors alike. Doha is a place where heritage is being made and remade as its history unfolds.

REFERENCES:

Doha Architecture Forum, https://www. facebook.com/DohaArchitectureForum [accessed 25 June 2015] Remah Y.Gharib, ‘Requalifying the Historic Center of Doha: From Locality to Globalization’, 16th Annual US/ICOMOS International Scientific Symposium, Savannah Georgia, USA, May 1-4, 2013 http://www.usicomos.org/symp/ archive/2013/docs/gharib-4940 [accessed 25 June 2015] Rachel Morris, ‘Souq Waqif, Doha’s resilient, labyrinthine marke’t, BBC Travel, 3 August 2011, http://www.bbc.com/travel/ story/20110802-souq-waqif-dohas-resilientlabyrinthine-market [accessed 25 June 2015] ‘Souks in Qatar’ http://www.timeoutdoha.com/ aroundtown/features/32406-souks-in-qatar [accessed 25 June 2015] Great photos at http://twistedsifter. com/2012/02/eclectic-architecture-of-dohaqatar/

TOP RIGHT  Aerial RIGHT  Intimate

of Doha, 1947. https://originsofdoha.wordpress.com/about/ spaces remain in Souq Wahif in the historic area. J Gregory

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225th Anniversary of the wrecking of the

Sirius COMMEMORATED ON NORFOLK ISLAND | LISA RICHARDS

ON

19 March 1790, the HMS Sirius, flagship of the First Fleet, met her doom on a reef at Norfolk Island’s Sydney (now Slaughter) Bay. The Sirius was on her way to Canton, China, to obtain food and hardware supplies, a

mission desperately important to the fledgling colony at Port Jackson which was at that time near to starvation. She was accompanied by the Supply which brought a different cargo: 116 convict men, 67 convict women and 27 children who were being moved to Norfolk Island to relieve pressure on the overcrowded Port Jackson, and a contingent of 65 marines.

ABOVE  Divers

recovering artefacts during the 1980 ‘Sirius Project’

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rying to unload at Norfolk Island, both vessels began to drift too close to the reef. Captain John Hunter on the Sirius was thwarted by a fickle wind as he tried to tack out to sea. Forced to turn inwards he hoped to sail along the coast to escape to sea between Nepean Island and Port Hunter, but again found himself too close to the reef. Unable to change tack, he was blown backwards onto the rocks. A disaster for those directly involved, the loss of the Sirius and the provisions it was to bring was devastating for the entire colony. On receiving the news of the wrecking, Governor Arthur Phillip recorded: ‘You never saw such dismay as the news of the wreck occasioned amongst us all; for, to use a sea term, we looked upon her as our sheet anchor.’ Further ration cuts at Port Jackson were immediate, but for those stranded on Norfolk Island there was not only the misery of low rations, isolation and martial law, but the torment of a constant reminder of the tragic event as the vessel could be seen, stuck fast on the reef, for two years before she finally disappeared below the water line. To commemorate the 225th anniversary of what was undoubtedly the most serious event to occur during the early life of both the Port Jackson and Norfolk Island settlements, around 200 visitors, many of them First Fleet descendants, travelled to Norfolk Island in March this year to be part of a week of pondering the tragedy and what it meant. A highlight was presentations made by Graeme Henderson and Myra Stanbury, two of Australia’s most eminent maritime archaeologists and key personnel on the Sirius Project of the 1980s. Acknowledged as one of the most successful maritime archaeology projects undertaken in Australian waters, this resulted in the raising of approximately 3000 artefacts, including a 1.7 tonne anchor, carronades, ballast, cannon balls, scientific equipment and fine pieces from the Officer’s Cabin. These are now on display in the Norfolk Island Museum, and are the largest collection of First Fleet cultural heritage material in existence. The ever-pounding surf at the wreck site makes diving dangerous. The skilled and brave maritime work of Graeme, Myra and their colleagues and local Norfolk Islanders have ensured that the remains of our flagship are here for generations to come. The Sirius is our Mayflower; she was the biggest ship of the Fleet and carried Captain Arthur Phillip, the Commodore and first Governor of the Colony. The National Trust is taking a tour to Norfolk Island to savour its colourful history and produce in March 2016. For details ring David Smith, Travel on Capri – 1800 679 066

TOP RIGHT

George Raper: ‘The melancholy loss of HMS Sirius off Norfolk Island, March 19th 1790’ – (National Library of Australia) above  HMS Sirius Norfolk Island

ABOVE  Museum,

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‘As fast as a greyhound! A mouse the size of a greyhound!’ JONATHAN FISHER | CEO NATIONAL TRUST (QLD) WITH ANNA TEMBY I HISTORIAN

These were the two lines entrusted to me at the 2015 re-enactment of the landing at Cooktown of Lieutenant James Cook and the crew of the HMB Endeavour in 1770. Jonathon’s role was that of Dr. Daniel Solander, one of several botanists on board, and his remarks are believed to relate to the crew’s first sighting of kangaroos.

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n the 10th of June, 1770, the Endeavour struck the reef off the coast of Far North Queensland, and seven days later sailed into what is now Cooktown harbour to begin repairs. The crew spent seven weeks on the site of present-day Cooktown, replenishing supplies and caring for the sick and injured while making the all-important repairs. After many weeks of unfavourable weather, Cook and his crew were able to set off on their voyage once again on 4 August, 1770. The re-enactment is an annual occurrence held by the Cooktown Re-enactment Society. The society was formed in 1959 by a group of local businesses to celebrate the historical event which gave the

town its name. It has taken place annually since 1960, including a special performance for HRH Queen Elizabeth II in 1970 during the Cook Bicentennial celebrations. It was during this visit that the Queen opened the National Trust’s James Cook Museum, which houses the anchor and one of several canons from the Endeavour. 2020 will see the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Cook’s exploration of Australia’s east

ABOVE  Captain

coast and NTAQ is already preparing to participate in this important milestone. The 2020 celebrations will place particular emphasis on the experiences of local indigenous populations of the area during Cook’s landing, and the impact it had on their lives, which has been a subject of intense debate amongst historians for many decades. Cook’s voyage was long and vast, and 2020 will see commemorative events held not only in Australia, but all across the globe. We at NTAQ look forward to playing our part in this global remembrance of the remarkable exploration of Cook and the crew of the HMB Endeavour.

Cook Celebrations in Cooktown 1917. James Cook Museum Glass Plate library NTAQld miniature Endeavour replica is now housed in the James Cook Museum in Cooktown. T Nemeth/NTAQld RIGHT  Jonathan Fisher as Daniel Solander and Ric Ashcroft as James Cook with the Endeavour River in the background. J Fisher/NTAQld LEFT  This

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Dundullimal – much more than a Slab Hut CLIVE LUCAS | BOARD MEMBER NATIONAL TRUST (NSW)

Conservation architect and National Trust of NSW Board Member Clive Lucas first visited Dundullimal near Dubbo, NSW in 1973 as a member of the National Trust’s Historic Buildings Committee. The property was considered significant despite flood damage and years of being unoccupied. These are excerpts from a speech given by Clive Lucas at a recent dinner at Dundullimal Homestead.

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hat we saw in the twilight was clearly amazing – quite the best and most sophisticated house of its type in this country, a cottage ornée, clearly built by a sophisticated pioneer, a squatter who chose to live in a rustic cottage in the wilderness. Marie Antoinette had done this at her ferme ornée at Versailles where the Queen and her ladies played as dairymaids. In England, the Prince Regent built a large cottage ornée in Windsor Great Park to escape to. The rustic ceilings, the plastered walls, the smart early Victorian wallpaper, the fine cedar joinery, the ledged pine cottage doors, the extraordinary glazing patterns, the louvres and cobbled verandahs, all indicated an educated pedigree. There was even a butler’s pantry and a springbell system, and the ABOVE  Dundullimal

house was built on the same axis as its stone stables and coach-house. There are many stone houses with slab outbuildings but this was the reverse and there were suggestions the house had had balancing pavilions. The house was built by colonial gentry. John Maugham, a retired army officer, came to NSW in 1828 and was a wealthy merchant. He acquired Dundullimal in 1842. The next owners, E B Cornish and W W Brocklehurst, were English gentry with influential connections. In 1870, William Brocklehurst returned to England and his inheritance Hanbury Hall in Cheshire. Dundullimal was sold to the Baird family who held it for the next 100 years. A watercolour by Miss Kennedy Baird and an 1860s photograph proved the house had indeed been

of Palladian composition with balancing pavilions. The National Trust gave the property a recorded listing in July 1973 and classified it in May 1986. By then it was severely dilapidated. In 1985 the buildings and four hectares were gifted to the Trust by the Palmer family, descendants of Thomas Baird. A Bicentennial Commonwealth grant, together with the support of then Trust Director the late Peter James, and builder Garry Waller, made it possible to restore the complex and it was opened to the public in May 1988. Later that year the Royal Australian Institute of Architects awarded its architects the Lachlan Macquarie Award for the best restoration project in Australia. The most sophisticated slab house in Australia had been rescued.

Homestead. NTNSW 27

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Roast Pork For Atherton Chinatown GORDON GRIMWADE | HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST

The smell of roast pork may soon be drifting from Atherton Chinatown in Far North Queensland after archaeologists excavated the original pig-roasting oven alongside the heritage listed Temple of Hou Wang.

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hinatown site manager, Rhonda Micola, explained, ‘A large above ground oven was used to roast whole pigs during festivals held in the heydays of Chinatown from about 1890 to the 1920s. Cooking a sixty kilogram pig involved setting a large fire in the two metre high oven to heat the interior. Once the bricks were hot the ash was raked out and a marinated pig was lowered, nose first, into the oven which worked rather like a kupmarie in the vertical’. With the help of two colleagues, Dr Kevin Rains and Melissa Dunk, and some enthusiastic volunteers the archaeological team excavated about fifty square metres during a four-day dig in June, which revealed rock footings and an extensive ash deposit extending from near the oven vent. The quantity of ash indicates that there were many pigs roasted at Chinatown in its heydays. The original oven was severely affected by bulldozing and site scavenging after the majority of Chinese left the region. Nonetheless, numerous artefacts were recovered including some single dose medicine vials, delicate wine cups and even a metal matchbox used to store rivets. The next stage of this project, funded by a Queensland Government Everyone’s Environment Heritage Grant, is to construct a replica oven. Like the original, it will have a ramp access on one side. Once we acquire the expertise to successfully roast a pig in the traditional way the smell of roast pork should once again drift across the area.

TOP (L-R)  Kimberley

Stoter (James Cook University) and Dr Kevin Rains excavating alongside the original oven. Guan (Atherton Chinatown Deputy Manager) and Melissa Dunk (archaeologist) excavating while volunteers Sherry duToit and Duncan Ray look on. RIGHT  Sherry duToit holding a Chinese hoe recovered during archaeological excavations. BOTTOM LEFT  Hou Wang Temple. BOTTOM RIGHT  Some of the artefacts recovered included a Chinese hoe and remains of a frying pan lying beneath a rock from the oven wall. Photos: G Grimwade CENTRE  Shirley

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Between the lines GEORGIANA MOLLOY - THE MIND THAT SHINES AUTHOR:

BERNICE BARRY

PUBLISHER: REDGATE CONSULTANTS, WITCHCLIFFE, WA, 2015. REVIEWER: DR ROBYN TAYLOR, COUNCILLOR, NATIONAL TRUST (WA) This beautifully illustrated book is a joy to read. It is an in-depth study of Georgiana Molloy and her husband Captain John Molloy who came from England in 1830 to eventually make their home in Augusta on the Blackwood River. Georgiana’s story has been well covered in two earlier publications: Alexandra Hasluck’s Portrait with Background: a life of Georgiana Molloy (1955) and William Lines’ An All Consuming Passion, Origins, Modernity and the Australian Life of Georgiana Molloy (1994). The latter, more academic, builds on Hasluck’s work by providing a wider European context for Georgiana’s botanising. Her ‘consuming passion’ for gathering and pressing wildflowers and collecting seeds for British and European collections was to set her work on the international stage of 19th century scientific endeavour. Barry’s book has a different approach. It is also a story about her journey along the road of historical research and the discovery of new evidence. In this sense the book is about two intertwining stories. Barry sets out to solve some mysteries about Georgiana. Was she so religious-minded and priggish as her family suggests, and why did she suddenly marry a much older man, knowing he wanted to head off into the unknown on the other side of the world? And what about Molloy’s background? Was he a royal bastard? Barry teases out the evidence she finds, and not only probes the personalities of her subjects but also examines their lives within England’s rigid class system. This book brings psychological depth to the main characters and greater poignancy when we consider the harsh realities of Georgiana’s life in the wilderness. Her genteel background in England and Scotland was hardly a good preparation, but the intellectual and ethical development of her mind, and skills as a gardener, equipped her to rise above hardship and enjoy her beloved Blackwood and the native gardens she established there and at her subsequent home in the Vasse. The book’s subtitle ‘the mind that shines’ comes from The Songs of Robert Burns, one of the books that Georgiana brought with her to Australia. There is a link with the National Trust that is discussed at the end of the book. One of the items in the collection at Wonnerup is Georgiana’s rosewood sewing box. In its many small compartments can be found buttons and threads, and precious mementoes from her former life in England.

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Zest Festival 2015 Taste and Desire: the Power of the Beautiful REBECCA MILLAR ZEST FESTIVAL ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & NICOLA HOLMAN NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER | ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR THE HISTORY OF EMOTIONS (EUROPE 1100-1800)

Have you ever felt the allure and power of an object whose inherent beauty affects you emotionally? Can you imagine seeing for the first time finely crafted objects whose decorative art and style are completely new, yet so beautiful you desire to possess them? Are we any different to those Europeans in the eighteenth century who held Chinese porcelain for the first time, and ran a finger over the designs of a Japanese silk kimono?

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ith the theme Taste and Desire: The Power of the Beautiful, this year’s Zest Festival to be held in Kalbarri WA, on 19 and 20 September 2015, will explore the power of beautiful Chinese and Japanese objects traded by the Dutch East India Merchant Company, and how this trade influenced the tastes and desires of Europeans. Guests will have their senses moved by the delicate experience of ‘the way of tea’ in a Japaneseinspired Tea House, contemplate poetry in serene natural landscapes and be challenged by origami puzzle sculptures and tangrams to discover how this remote community connects to its history and the world. This is the fourth year of the Zest Festival which is a unique partnership between the Kalbarri Development Association Inc.

and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (CHE). The Centre provides academic research, marketing, staff support, and engages local schools with education resources and visiting workshops. CHE Director Professor Andrew Lynch said the Zest Festival project has made a unique contribution to the communities in and around Kalbarri. “Zest provides a stellar example of genuine cooperation between academia and community. It builds on fostering a sense of common heritage among the diverse communities of the region and markedly enhances the region’s cultural life in music, dance, and the visual arts,” he said. The partnership has turned the historical event of the Zuytdorp shipwreck in 1712 on the coast

of Western Australia into a major community heritage event that makes a direct link between academic research and the life of the township and region. The shipwreck of the Zuytdorp in 1712 along this wild coast, and the belief by the Nhanda community that shipwreck survivors were helped by their Nhanda ancestors, has provided the key narrative for this Festival. Together, Aboriginal and European emotional histories are explored through the arts and the sharing of stories. The last Zest Festival, scheduled for 2016, will coincide with the 400th anniversary of Dirk Hartog’s landing in WA and will look to the future, guided by a deep understanding of how the history of emotions have shaped us and how our heritage enriches our lives. FOR MORE INFORMATION  visit www.zestfest.com.au

Zest Festival is proudly sponsored by the State Government through Tourism WA’s Regional Events Scheme, which is jointly funded by Royalties for Regions. The Zest Festival is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. ABOVE  George Hendrik Breitner, Girl in a White Kimono, c. 1894. © Rijksmuseum. ABOVE  Chamber of Rhetoric Performance, Zest Festival 2014, S Mitchell. ABOVE  Anonymous, Lobed dish with dragon, tiger, bamboo and prunus, c. 1670 -1690. © Rijksmuseum.

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Discover Australia’s National Trust heritage places and have a great day out! National Trust members gain FREE and discounted entry* *except for special events

Hou Wang Temple

www.nationaltrust.org.au



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