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| Australian
Women's Art in the National Library's Collections |
Sophia Campbell (1777-1833)Newcastle, Christ Church in the distance c.1818watercolour in her sketchbook assembled c.1816-25 R7273 Ferguson Collection |
This is an early view of the penal settlement, Newcastle and Christ Church, which had just been built. The plans for Christ Church had been drawn up from an original design by Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie. |
Amelia C. Rusden (working c.1834-40)Roman Catholic Chapel, Sydney, July, 1834watercolour R9985 |
This painting illustrates Sydney's early history as a mostly unplanned city in which buildings and thoroughfares often stood in uneasy relationship with each other. |
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| Fanny GibbesPoint Piper Jan. 3, 1838pencil drawing R4874 |
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Thomas Coleman
Dibdin (1810-93) lithographer
A view of Koombana Bay on Port Leschenault, |
Louisa Clifton was the daughter of the commissioner of the Western Australian Company. She and her family had arrived in 1841 in Australind, now part of the town of Bunbury. This lithograph is one of the earliest images of Western Australia. |
Jane Dorothea Cannan (1823-61)Grave of Louisa Cannan c.1855pencil drawing in her sketchbook R9816 |
This poignant drawing reveals a mother's grief at losing her nine-month-old child. The grave was located in the St Kilda cemetery. There are numerous nineteenth-century drawings of graves in the National Library's collection; a reminder of the frail nature of life in colonial Australia. Jane Cannan was married to a businessman who sold iron products such as galvanised iron for buildings. Her sketchbook contains many pencil drawings of Melbourne's views, streets and dwellings, mostly unidentified. |
M. & N.
Hanhart lithographers
Eden, Twofold Bay, Australia c.1855
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This print is one of four images drawn by Elizabeth Husdpeth while on a visit to Australia in the 1850s. Other images are: Boyd Town, Twofold Bay and the Custom House at Eden where she stayed. There is also a print of Ben Lomond in Tasmania. In letters to a friend, Mary Mowle, Elizabeth related the difficulties she had getting her drawings lithographed in London. The location of her original drawings is unknown. |
Sarah Ann Fogg (1829-1922)Quamby Bluff from Westbury, Tasmania c.1860watercolour R7633 |
Joan Kerr in The dictionary of Australian artists (1994) has identified numerous paintings by Sarah Ann Fogg. This watercolour of an area west of Launceston and her other paintings of around Launceston are considered to be her finest works. |
Anne HigginsShan-a-cawbeen 1881oil on canvas R11086 Palmer Collection |
This small oil painting depicts the slab cottage built by Anne's son, Henry Bournes Higgins, on his selection between Narre Warren and Gembrook, now suburban Melbourne. Henry Bournes Higgins had a distinguished career as a politician and judge. |
Katherine Lilian FarranThe Creel at Thredbo, 1.3.10, drawn 1910ink drawing R11102 |
Katherine Lilian and her mother Isabel, also an artist, lived near Moss Vale, New South Wales, in the early years of this century. They were members of a large family who owned an orchard in the area. Their art was a hobby rather than a full-time occupation. There are numerous sketchbooks in the National Library which show their artistic ability and their interest in buildings in Sydney and New South Wales. |
Eirene Mort established a professional Australian art and design studio with Nora Weston in 1906 in Sydney. Training and experience in London had convinced both women that they were indeed Australians and they returned with a mission to promote Australian products, the use of Australian subject matter and the development of Australian design. (Margaret Mort, 'Eirene Mort, a biographical memoir', Old Canberra: a sketchbook of the 1920s, 1987) |
![]() | Olive Cotton (b.1911) | |
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Sesquicentenary procession, Sydney 1938 gelatin silver (printed 1987) P382 City rooftops 1942 gelatin silver (printed 1990) P383 |
Early in her career Olive Cotton worked in Max Dupain's studio, managing the studio from 1942 to 1945. It is from this studio that these photographs originate. After a long period away from photography she resumed her career in 1964, opening a studio in Cowra specialising in portraiture. In 1985 a retrospective exhibition of her photographs was held at the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney in recognition of her contribution to photography in Australia. |
Barbara Hanrahan was a very gifted printmaker, painter, novelist and teacher. In 1988 she was one of five artists commissioned by the Adelaide City Council to portray the city. The perspective of the viewer towards the women, looking from the ground upwards is a popular technique in Hanrahan's oeuvre. The National Library has a large collection of Hanrahan's prints and manuscripts. |
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Main![]()
Introduction![]()
Section 1. Over the Back Fence![]()
Section 2. Distant Views![]()
Section 3. Childrens Lives![]()
Section 4. Artists Books![]()
Section 5. Gardens, Plants and Bird![]()
Section 6. Self and Others
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Copyright