Harold Hughan, called “Buzz” by his close friends, was born in Mildura, the second of ten children born to Emily (née Clayton) and Randolph Hughan. He spent most of his childhood in Hamilton. It was here that he was first apprenticed as a mechanical engineer. In 1910 he moved to Geelong where he completed a correspondence course to qualify as an electrical engineer.
In 1915 he enlisted in the AIF and subsequently served on the Western Front, being commissioned as a lieutenant in 1918. In 1919 he married Lily Booth. The couple returned to Australia the following year. He subsequently worked as an electrical engineer until his retirement in 1963.
Hughan had always been interested in crafts especially woodwork and weaving. In 1940 his wife Lily and son Robert introduced him to pottery. As with many in the English speaking world, he was profoundly influenced by Bernard Leach’s studio approach in 'A Potter’s Book’. In 1941 he put his engineering skills to good use by designing and constructing a Leach style potters wheel from the crankshaft of a motorcar engine. He also designed and built a kiln at the studio he established at his Glen Iris home.
His son, Robert, became a ceramic technologist with the CSIRO. Both men collaborated on developing stoneware bodies and glazes. As a result, Harold was able to create the effects he had envisaged using stoneware, porcellaneous stoneware and earthenware. These were decorated with celadon, tenmoku, oatmeal and gold metallic glazes with slip decoration, sometimes incised.
Harold Hughan was honoured with retrospective exhibitions in 1969 and 1983, both at the National Gallery of Victoria, both curated by Kenneth Hood.
- Writers:
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- Date written:
- 2019
- Last updated:
- 2021
