[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] T [/dropcap]he new director of the Warrnambool Art Gallery Vanessa Gerrans will judge this year’s South West International Women’s Day Art Prize.
Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West, which is organising the prize for a second year, said it was delighted to secure Ms Gerrans as this year’s judge for the event, following in the footsteps of renowned Portland artist Carmel Wallace who judged the inaugural event in 2015.
Women’s Health executive officer Emily Lee-Ack said Ms Gerrans was a perfect fit with the aims and aspirations of the women’s prize, which will be announced at The Artery on February 26 (there is still time to enter – see end of story).
“We are privileged to welcome a curator to the judging role. Vanessa’s broad experience and passion for women’s art will be an amazing asset to this year’s prize, following on from the generous contribution of inaugural judge Carmel Wallace last year,” Ms Lee-Ack said.
“As an organisation that works to advance gender equality in all areas of life, we are delighted to have leading women in the arts in our region to take on this important role.”
Ms Gerrans said she was similarly delighted to be involved.
“It is a privilege to part of a process that promotes Australian women artists and champions awareness and cultural diversity in the region,” she said.
“I greatly admire female artists for their skill and enormous capacity for depth of expression…I expect the judging will be a very enjoyable challenge.”
This year’s prize offers $2000 cash for the winner – up from $1500 for the inaugural event – with the winning work to be acquired by Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West and also featured on the cover of its annual report for 2016-17.
A $1000 cash prize will be awarded to the runner-up, with another $1000 cash prize for best emerging artist.
Bluestone Magazine is also, for the first time, sponsoring the People’s Choice award of $250.
This year’s theme for the prize is ‘Hope’ and local women artists have until January 28 to enter.
[box]The South West Women’s IWD Art Prize will run at The Artery from February 26 to March 13, 2016. For detailed information about how to enter please visit the website here.[/box]
Warrnambool textile artist Louise Parlour with her work inspired by the story of Agnes Ruttleton: the ‘Granny’ behind the famous Granny’s Grave.
By Carol Altmann
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] A [/dropcap]lmost 170 years after she was laid to rest somewhere in the Warrnambool sand dunes, Agnes Ruttleton – the “Granny” behind Granny’s Grave – is to get her name back.
The Warrnambool City Council has followed through on its plan to have a plaque recognising pioneer Agnes Ruttleton added to the famous Granny’s Grave site at the east end of Lady Bay and has installed it in time for March 8: International Women’s Day.
Until now, Agnes has been incorrectly known only as Mrs James Raddleston, “the first white woman buried in Warrnambool” and thousands of locals and tourists have walked past her memorial in the dunes not knowing anything more about her.
Last year, however, Bluestone Magazine ran a story on the research of local historian Jenny Fawcett that revealed so much more about the life and times of Granny Ruttleton, who died in 1848 at the age of 60. It remains one of our most popular stories and you can read it here.
The headstone in detail, created using 10.5km of cotton and finished with real lichen picked from the roof of Louise’s home.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] A [/dropcap]mong those inspired by Agnes’ story was Warrnambool textile artist Louise Parlour, who used the imagery of the Granny’s Grave bluestone headstone for her entry in the inaugural South West International Women’s Day Art Prize.
“The theme for the art prize was ‘Women and Place’ and I think the Granny’s Grave story fits that so perfectly,” Louise said.
“So many people walk past that site and never really stop to look. Plus (Agnes) is not actually buried there and they have her name wrong, so it is like she is invisible, despite being one of the first pioneering women of Warrnambool.”
Louise photographed the headstone and used this to create a template from dissolvable plastic. Around this template she freehand embroidered the headstone using the closest colour she could find to bluestone.
The work took about 50 hours and 10.5 km – yes, 10.5 km – of cotton to complete.
“I think I bought about every batch of that cotton I could get my hands on in Warrnambool,” Louise laughed.
The completed work, including a poem about Agnes Raddleton’s life inside a piece of recycled marine ply.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T [/dropcap]he gravestone’s green lettering was then stencilled on to the work, some real lichen added from Louise’s roof at home and the whole thing covered with a thin coat of PVC glue to hold it together once the dissolvable plastic was removed.
The headstone itself is surrounded by sand and pussy willows, boxed by recycled fence pickets from a friend.
“I wanted it to look like I imagine it did when it was first erected, not with the modern handrails and things around it,” Louise said.
As part of sharing Agnes’s story with the public, Louise wrote a poem encapsulating what is known of her life and included this in her piece, tucked inside a piece of weathered marine ply.
“I want people to pick it up, read it and go away knowing a bit more about Agnes,” she said.
[learn_more caption=”You can read Louise’s poem here:”]
Where is this woman?
Laid to rest
Windswept dunes
Leaving no remnants
No trace……………
No photos to be found
Only our imaginations
Giving Granny a face.
A pioneer woman of her day
A township of 100 people
So they say…..
Makeshift homes set up
Enduring the wind and rain
On Flagstaff Hill
Where the sheep today roam.
So who is this Granny?
Encapsulated in time
A bluestone grave
Neither reason nor rhyme
Standing all alone
Standing the test of time……
Not much is known about Granny
And her pioneer days
Agnes sailed by sea
From Tasmania
Aboard the Essington
Wife of James
No record of children
The colony of New South Wales
Town of Warrnambool……
Worked hard for a quid
Odd jobs and selling crays
Headstone depicts wrong name
Should read – Mrs Agnes Ruttleton
Second white woman
To be buried in Warrnambool
First believed to be buried on an island
Off the Hopkins River
Granny was admired by one Richard Osburne
Known as a publisher and local historian
Paid for her burial
In the sand dunes……
Returning some years later
To no avail
Could not find her marker
And all efforts failed
Richard Osburne fought
Council decided to erect a headstone
The one that stands today All alone……..
Louise Parlour 2015
(I would like to acknowledge Bluestone Magazine and their article “Who is the “Granny” behind Granny’s Grave?” published February 9, 2014, and local researcher Jenny Fawcett who uncovered the story of the “real Granny”.) [/learn_more]
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T [/dropcap]he marine ply was found at Levy’s Beach where she occasionally walks with her father, who visits the area regularly in search of that other Warrnambool legend: the Mahogany Ship.
It is the first time Louise has entered her work in an exhibition, but unfortunately, after our interview, she learned that she had missed out in the selection process (the prize attracted more than 70 entries, of which only 50 could be selected).
Despite missing out, Louise remained upbeat, saying she had thoroughly enjoyed creating the work. We think Agnes would be pretty chuffed too.
In the meantime, the council plaque – which has been added to the viewing platform next to the grave – provides details about Agnes and her challenging life as one of the first non-Indigenous people to settle in the area.
A council spokesman said the full text of the plaque, which can be found at the end of this story, was developed with the assistance of Elizabeth and (the late) Les O’Callaghan and the Warrnambool Historical Society, in conjunction with historian Dr Helen Doyle.
The plaque created by the Warrnambool City Council that has been added to the viewing platform at Granny’s Grave at Lady Bay. Image: Warrnambool City Council.
[learn_more caption=”Read the full text on the grave plaque here:”] Who was Granny? Granny’s Grave marks the burial site of Agnes Ruttleton, who died in December 1848. Agnes Ruttleton, known as “Granny”, was recorded as “the first white woman to be buried in Warrnambool”.
Agnes arrived in Warrnambool with her husband James Ruttleton in the late 1840s (probably both ex-convicts from Van Diemen’s Land) and lived in humble conditions, occupying a tent or hut at the base of Flagstaff Hill. It is believed they made a living catching crayfish. Exposed to unpredictable weather and with few physical comforts, they would have had a tough life.
In Warrnambool’s early days many settlers experienced similar hardship and made meagre incomes from fishing and beachcombing. In an 1850 census, eight men gave their place of residence as ‘at the jetty’, another five were described as ‘Fishermen at the Hummocks’.
Upon Agnes’ death in 1848, a group of leading Warrnambool citizens, including Richard Osburne, who would later publish The Examiner, Gilbert Nicol, Mark Nicholson, John Hollins Craig, John Moffat Chisholm and Thomas Denny, rallied to provide a decent burial ceremony for her.
Rev. Thomas Slattery, the Catholic priest from Belfast (Port Fairy), was brought across to officiate at a ceremony held at the sand hummocks and to consecrate the ground where she was buried. [/learn_more]
[box]The South West International Women’s Day Art Prize will be launched Thursday March 5 at 6pm at The Artery, 224 Timor St, Warrnambool. Live music. Judging by internationally recognised Portland artist Carmel Wallace.[/box]
Catherine Ryan, left, and Brigid Foard are among the members of The Last Thursday Book Club, in Port Fairy, that provides a place for women to enjoy stimulating conversations about books.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] W [/dropcap]hile there are infinite joys about becoming a mother, the loss of stimulating conversation or intellectual discussion can prove challenging for women who enjoyed such things before becoming a parent.
Brigid Foard, who lives in Port Fairy and teaches English at Emannuel College, Warrnambool, remembers when growing up that her mother, Sylvia Jones, was part of a local book club for about 20 years and how it became a “staple of her life”.
When Brigid had the first of her two daughters, she tried to find a similar club to meet other women who enjoyed reading and talking about books, but without success.
“I remember feeling quite envious of what Mum had, because I was unable to find anything similar,” she said.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] T [/dropcap]hat changed around September last year when two local women, Lucy Abbott and Meg Higgins, started The Last Thursday Book Club in Port Fairy. The group is aimed at women with or without children who are looking for a place to indulge their love of books.
The group now has about seven members who all meet monthly at a local cafe or restaurant and, over coffee, dessert or a glass of wine, spend a couple of hours dissecting the book that has been chosen for that month.
“I had been reading all these fantastic books, but I didn’t really have anyone to communicate my thoughts or frustrations to about what I was reading, now I have met this great group of like-minded women and we share all of our ideas,” said one member, Kelly Wynne, who has two young children and works part-time as a heritage consultant.
“It has also really broadened the types of books and authors that I now read,” Kelly added.
Catherine Ryan, who has an infant son and also teaches English at Emmanuel College, agreed and said the group gave her an important social outlet that was not work-related, yet stimulating.
“Teaching English is working, whereas this is relaxing…it’s something I do for myself,” she said.
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] A [/dropcap]s to how it works, well each member of the club gets to choose a book, which is then either bought, borrowed or shared among the members who have a month to read it.
The books chosen so far have ranged from Tim Winton’s new release, Eyrie, to the somewhat more hefty tome by Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall. Tolstoy’s classic Anna Karenina and the Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, The Signature of all Things, are also on the list.
“We trust each other’s tastes: there hasn’t been a bad choice so far,” laughed Brigid.
And all three women laughed as they described how their monthly Thursday night meetings had become “sacrosanct” and their respective partners – and children – had learned to accommodate the club.
“The regularity of it is really important to me,” said Brigid, “because once you become a mother, it is very easy to be defined only as a mother and to be trapped into talking about teething when, really, you might want to be talking about literature.”
“We are just really fortunate to have something like this in a rural area.”
[box type=”bio”] Bluestone Magazine will check in each month with The Last Thursday Book Club to see what they have been reading…and what they thought of it! [/box]
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