Design and Art Australia Online

Home-maker (rather than housewife) would perhaps be a better description of the women of Australia who, until the 1960s, cleaned house, washed and ironed, cooked and preserved, made their own clothes and those of their children, knitted jumpers and the like without the benefit of labour saving devices. But more than that, they made the house a home and sought 'to beautify the mundane articles in daily use’. Moreover, they were endearingly modest of their work – it was simply something they did. Although the course of Australian art may be but little embellished by documenting the work of these women, our social history is seen to be immeasurably richer. Emily Rose Lambert (1885-1974) and her daughter Vera Muriel Lawson (1909-1985) were proficient china painters and this craft was widely popular in their home state of South Australia.

Emily Rose Hockey was born at Mt. Lock, Caltowie in South Australia and from her earliest years she was known to family and friends as 'Queenie’ because of her air of authority and her ability to have people do her bidding. She early learned the domestic skills required of a girl in a large family on the land. This she hated, considering such employment a necessary evil. 'Work’ was what she enjoyed – any of the many and varied interests she developed over a long lifetime. She studied such subjects as elocution, needlework, bobbin lace, pastel work and water and oil painting under Miss Frances Yates in the years 1902-05 at her school in Jamestown. Even then she was an exemplary student; a crochet sampler was illustrated in Jennifer Isaacs’ The Gentle Arts . She later assisted Miss Yates in conducting her classes.

She married William Lambert at her parents home in Jamestown, South Australia, in 1908 and made her new home on her husband’s property, 'Durrabunya’, 64 kilometers outside Peterborough. Rose Lambert was as accomplished in the feminine skills as many of her generation, making her own wedding gown and trousseau; and equally as practical, as this gown was cut up to make dresses for her first daughter, Vera.

Lambert’s watercolours of the property in the early years of her marriage have a significant documentary role, revealing that the buildings were still the rough sheds of saplings and a thatched roof built 1875-80 when the property was taken up. She used her skills to delight her children; her copies of G. W. Lambert’s cartoons of cats were made for Vera in 1914. Lambert also painted some oils and watercolours of the gardens and surrounding countryside in the late 1920s, which probably mark the transition to her efforts in china painting.

Life was not necessarily luxurious on the property, although there was help to assist with the daily chores, there was always 'work’ to hand. Very finely crocheted bonnets were made for each of her children’s christening in 1909, 1917 and 1927. Clothes were smocked as well, bobbin lace made, edges for d’oyleys and handkerchiefs and cut white work for tray and supper cloths. The finest of these was one made in 1917, adapted from a 'wild rose and pigeon’ design with over four hundred different pattern rows in each corner. Remarkably, Lambert never followed a pattern, preferring to adapt what she wanted. Materials, however, were not always readily available. If the Afghan hawkers were later in their rounds, Lambert had to send to her sister in Jamestown for her needs.

In this period of rampant consumerism it is difficult to understand the thrift that was practiced even in affluent households in the first part of this century. Nothing was wasted; unbleached calico flour bags became meat bags, hessian sugar bags were used as the backing for floor mats or embroidered and used as gardening aprons. During the years of the First World War, when Lambert made garments for the Red Cross stalls, her specialty was making shorts for young boys out of the lower legs of men’s old trousers. The ability to make something out of nothing also came to the fore during the Second World War when Lambert taught handicrafts to a small group of Country Women’s Association (CWA) women. The group made dolls and embroidered cloths and tapestries to raise funds for the war effort. Gloves and leather handbags, obligatory fashion items of that time but largely unobtainable because of war shortages, were other popular items.

In 1926 Lambert and her husband embarked on a world tour to Europe and North America where she was thrilled to view major art collections. Perhaps this restarted her interest in painting again – shortly after she returned, she decided to take up lessons in china painting. Her duties as a wife and mother did not permit her the time to travel to Adelaide, so she enrolled in a correspondence course with Miss Maida Wright, who had her premises at Rundle Street. Miss Wright’s clearly expressed letters survive and provide a positive insight into the way the craft was taught, but it was a difficult way to learn. Even Miss Wright suggested “I think it would be best if you could come down for a few lessons, it would help you more than quite a number of written instructions.” (Letter from Miss Wright to Rose Lambert, date unknown). The written instructions became more effective when Lambert’s daughter Vera had her first lesson with Miss Wright in May 1927 (shortly after her mother began) and was able to pass on practical tips to her mother.

Lambert’s china painted articles were made under very trying conditions. In the dry 'ten inch per year’ rainfall area of the northeast of South Australia, there was always dust in the air. The room in which the painting was done had to have all the doors and windows tightly closed which was well and good in the frosty days of winter but rather unpleasant in summer, with temperatures over 40C despite the thick stone walls and wide verandahs. The decorated pieces were sent to Adelaide, some 320kms away, to be fired. Each piece was individually wrapped in old sheets and blankets, placed in a suitcase and sent by rail. As china painting is fired in stages this meant three separate trips for most pieces, four if the article had additional gilding. Remarkably, nothing was ever broken.

The years 1927-33 were the most productive for her china painting. Domesticated flowers such as wisteria, morning glory, delphiniums, roses, pansies and poinsettias were her favoured subjects and in that sense she was quite typical of the period. The station gardens were planted in advance to provide subjects for reference. Of course, by the time the initial drawing with china pencil had been made, the first coat added and its firing completed, the flowers had faded. Coloured illustrations were referred to for final colour and highlight details. Although paintings of Australian native flowers were popularised in the Arts and Crafts Societies during this period, very few grew in the area. An image of the nearby Naraka Hills decorates a china plate, but this is exceptional in her work.

Other Adelaide china-painters such as Maud Gum, Mamie Venner and Gwynith Norton also provided instruction on different occasions (Lambert had examples of all their work in her collection). As it seems all her instructors attended the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts it isn’t surprising that there is a commonality in their work. One of Lambert’s most impressive works is a tea set of twenty-one pieces, decorated with pansies – a particularly popular motif at the time.

Lambert’s most detailed work was a miniature of her daughter Vera, painted in 1930, in which the flowing reddish locks are very suggestive of late nineteenth century aestheticism. Many pieces survive in the family’s collection but many more were given to visitors to the property or as a souvenir to local residents who were leaving the district. Her daughter recalls that a friend told Lambert she had purchased one of her china-painted pieces in an antique shop. Lambert was surprised at first, suggesting that the friend could as easily be given an example of her work, then rather offended that someone should think so little of her gift as to sell it. The death of her husband in June 1933 brought these activities to a close as Lambert became fully involved in running the property. She did begin china painting again in the early 1950s but never completed the plate she decorated with roses as she felt she had 'lost her touch’ and returned to painting in oils.

Subsequently, after her trip to England, Lambert also took up needle point tapestries, adapting forms and colours from Weldon’s designs. This became her favoured craft as it did not require the constant organization and dispatching of unfinished work as did china painting. The completed tapestries were sent to Adelaide to be made up into items of furniture: fire screens, chairs and the like. One, a seat and back of a Jacobean design tapestry, was sent to Adelaide to be made up into a chair. While it was waiting at Peterborough Station it was seen by members of the local CWA. The organisers asked that it be included in their exhibition of arts and crafts – it was awarded a first prize. This was the only article Lambert ever exhibited. Many pieces were made over the years and most were given away as presents.

Hooked rug making was also a craft that could be taken up in any spare moment and did not require the organisation of china painting. Several were made of old cream blankets cut into strips and dyed when necessary. Much of Lambert’s life was spent in the solitude of the outback, which gives a reason for the enthusiasm with which she embraced her various craft interests. Her need to be actively engaged in her home, (like so many of her generation) helps explain the great variety of craft activities that engaged her.

Writers:

Cooke, Glenn R.

Date written:

2000

Last updated:

2011