Once a biographer - part 2 - more Edna Walling treasures

Following on from my recent post, here are some more Edna Walling related treasures and pics that I've not shown anywhere before. Above shows Barbara Barnes, Edna's niece, holding up the signboard or 'shingle' that Edna made to advertise herself and her original garden contractor, Eric H Hammond (always referred to as Mr Hammond by Edna). The pic was taken at Canning Downs, Barbara's historic Queensland homestead. Barbara died a while ago and I'm not sure what happened to the shingle, but I do know that Barbara passed on a great deal of Walling's papers and photographs to the State Library of Victoria. I stayed with Barbara for a week during my research for The Unusual Life of Edna Walling, and had the privilege of viewing all this material first hand, and engaging in fabulous conversations with Barbara. She was wonderfully generous - and quite a character, as you can see! 

I took these next pics during my recent stay at The Burrow at Wombat Bend (see previous post re), Sue Forrester is the daughter of Gwynnyth Crouch, who was Edna's assistant and long time friend. Here are a couple of items Sue showed me during my B&B stay. The first is a Cloisonné bowl that Edna gave to Gwynnyth for her 21st birthday in 1936. It is a beautiful delicate piece. Sue puts little notes with such items so that she (and others) will remember what they are and where from. Sue's note reads: 'Cloisonné bowl - Mum. 1936. June 25. 21st birthday present. Edna Walling gave a surprise party at Sonning.' (Sonning was Edna's self-designed home at Bickleigh Vale, the village she created near Melbourne.) That must have been quite some surprise birthday party...

  
Another treasure that Sue Forrester showed me was a metal door handle that Edna Walling made during metalwork classes when she was training to be a gardener at the Burnley College of Horticulture and Agriculture c1917 (the college is now part of the University of Melbourne). I was astonished to see this unique piece, sturdy, attractive, and still in use! Edna passed it on to Gwynnyth, and now it's attached to the stable door of Sue's potting-shed. Priceless!

Sue believes that Edna's design was based on a fuchsia bud.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Room - a Tape Recorder - and a Ghetto Cabaret. Theatre Lives! - at fortyfive downstairs

Image
Three good pieces of theatre in the last four weeks - all seen at fortyfive downstairs , Flinders Lane, Melbourne. An unusual production of A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf was   presented by Sentient Theatre - it's an adaptation of Woolf's lectures given to the women of Cambridge University in 1928. Somewhat surprisingly, this production had a cast of four, three women and one man. Each was an aspect of Virginia's argument. They tossed Woolf's ideas around the space, challenging each other with her witty, literary, feminist teasings. It took a while to get used to four voices, but it worked, cleverly keeping the pace of Woolf's playful propositions afloat - though not always tapping into her mischievous wit. This production is going on regional tour - do see it - the ideas are as fresh as they were when Virginia Woolf first penned them - which does not say much for the progress of women's place in society. It's good to see Virginia Woolf...
Read more

Bubbling over

Image
I have been celebrating with friends. Popping the cork on champagne. Yippee! Last week I secured a Literary Agent! After my last post about the slowness of snails everything suddenly sped up. I tried a bit of lateral thinking ... and it paid off. I am now represented by Martin Shaw, who is associated with Alex Adsett Publishing Services (they represent Melissa Lucashenko who just won the Miles Franklin Award - not that I'm name-dropping or anything). I couldn't be happier with this turn of events. Especially as Martin Shaw is "very excited" about my manuscript, and very positive about its publishing potential. So one enormous hurdle scrambled over - and just a few more yet to come!  - and, but, here is a 1923 update : long story short: My manuscript is now published titled A Secretive Life and is available as paperback or eBook via all usual outlets (see more recent posts re). Martin Shaw and I parted company in the end, very amicably, and the champagne was g...
Read more

Anzac Day 25th April

Image
Anzac Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps). A day of Remembrance to honour those valiant people who served in uniform. It feels especially important (given our own travails) to remember their sacrifices, difficulties, courage and fear. Their battles were with bombs and bullets. At 6 a.m. the nation will commemorate the day from home, standing at the front gate, or on the balcony or at the window: a communion of thought, followed by the sound of the Last Post - on the radio/TV, or perhaps it will come drifting across the rooftops played on trombone, trumpet or flute by some able musician. I'm going to take a moment to remember my English paternal grandfather, Corporal Edwin Percy Hardy, 1882-1941. He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, 6th Field, Ambulance. Warrant Officer Class 2. He served in WW1. Here's the only photo I have of him during that time, he is the tall balding man with his back to us, centre right, somewhere in France: In his wallet he carried a...
Read more