y separately published work icon The La Trobe Journal periodical issue   peer reviewed assertion
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... no. 104 March 2020 of The La Trobe Journal est. 1998 The La Trobe Journal
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A glittering silk and velvet pageant costume worn for the centenary of Victoria celebrations in 1934 and 1935 is currently a centrepiece of State Library Victoria’s Velvet, Iron, Ashes exhibition, and is our cover image for this issue. The story of Jessie Brookes (later Clarke), who wore the costume, featured in issue number 102 of The La Trobe Journal. Annette Soumilas now takes us behind the scenes and introduces us to the designer of the costume, Thelma Thomas. Thomas had an extraordinary talent for creating allegorical costumes that are as innovative today as they were when she conceived them.' (Sally Heath : Editorial introduction)

Notes

  •  Only literary material within AustLit's scope individually indexed. Other material in this issue includes:

    Annette Cooper - It's smart to be thrifty: the story of Manton's department store.

    Des Cowley - Photobooks and the State Library Victoria collection  

    State Library of Victoria StaffVincent Kelly photographic studio, Bendigo: opening up a collection of early 20th-century photographs

    Madeleine Say - Thomas Hannay, photographer in 19th-century western Victoria  

Contents

* Contents derived from the 2020 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Dreamer and Visionary : Discovering Costume Designer Thelma Thomas Afford, Annette Soumilas , single work biography
'On display for the first time in 2019–20 in State Library Victoria’s Victoria Gallery is the only surviving costume commissioned by the International Club of Victoria for the Pageant of Nations performed in 1934 and 1935 to celebrate Victoria’s centenary. The costume designed for the pageant’s protagonist, ‘Victoria’, was donated to State Library Victoria in 1998 by Jessie Clarke (nee Brookes),1 who played that role on the stage of Melbourne’s Town Hall for the three performances in 1934, and two additional enactments in 1935. Clarke also donated a hand-coloured studio portrait of herself wearing the costume (shown on page 28). The dynamic ensemble included a hand-painted hooped skirt and a shimmering silver bodice over which trailed a long green cloak veined with silver markings. The entire ensemble was crowned with a striking metallic headdress. State Library Victoria had no record of the identity of the costume’s designer until my own research into realia, manuscripts and pictures in the collection in 2013 led me to discover the story of a woman with talent and ingenuity who contributed an enduring legacy to Australia’s performing arts. This article adds to the previous La Trobe Journal article about the Jessie Clarke costume' (Introduction)
(p. 26-38)
The Ken Pound Collection of Children’s Books, Juliet O'Conor , single work criticism
'State Library Victoria holds the most comprehensive collection of Australian children’s books in any public institution in the world. The Library’s Children’s Literature Collection fundamentally changed with the acquisition in 1994 of a private collection of 25,000 Australian and New Zealand children’s books amassed by Melbourne collector Ken Pound. This took the collection above 100,000 items, increasing the Library’s holdings of variant editions, ephemera, advertising, print-based games and short-lived Australian publishing house titles. Today the Library holds approximately 150,000 children’s books published over five centuries. This remarkable collection is of world significance.' (Introduction)
(p. 76-87)
Curious Creatures and Bushland Beasts : Inspiration from the Children’s Book Collection, Stephanie Holm , single work criticism
'How did the early European settlers talk to their children about Australia’s unique and unfamiliar landscape? What types of stories and images did they create to characterise and make sense of its strange fauna and flora? As a natural history illustrator, writer and avid reader I wanted to explore how the Australian environment, filled with new and unfamiliar species, was characterised in text and illustrations in children’s books in the 19th century and into the 20th century. ‘From curious creatures to bushland beasts: a graphic novel exploring representations of Australian fauna and flora in early Australian children’s book publishing’ was the title I proposed for my Children’s Literature Fellowship, undertaken at State Library Victoria in 2016–17. My aim was to view a selection of Australian children’s books, to discover how Australian fauna and flora were portrayed in both text and illustrations, and then to develop a creative response in the form of a graphic novel. My research method was to be autoethnographic: I would note and sketch my responses to the works I viewed.' 

 (Introduction)

(p. 88-95)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 16 Apr 2020 11:12:02
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