Design and Art Australia Online

Woodcarver, Susannah Edwards, born in Western Australia in 1860, was the daughter of Ann Maria Edwards née Griffiths (1830-1890), who in 1855 in Wales married a Wesleyan police constable Thomas Edwards. They arrived in Western Australia in 1857 and were sent to the farming district 'over the hills’ from the settlement on the Swan. Thomas Edwards accompanied explorers on their expeditions: – Hargreaves in 1862, Lefroy in 1863 and Hunt in 1864. He purchased 'Rockfield’ on his retirement and by the 1880s was a yeoman farmer. Anna Maria, originally illiterate, was the local postmistress in 1861. The Butter stamp , c.1877, used to imprint and identify butter for market was carved for Ann Maria Edwards of Rockfield Farm, Beverley near York. It is quite an interesting piece of Treen. The carved letters read AMERFBY – standing for Anna Maria Edwards Rockfield Farm Beverley by York. These surround naturalistically rendered carved strawberries. Anna Maria made sure her own daughter, Susannah, had an education at the York school. Susannah probably carved this butter stamp for her mother. This was a typical school exercise. Susannah later trained in York with Hardman to become a telegrapher, which she was in Beverley in 1879-1900s. She died in 1947.

Writers:

Erickson, Dorothy (Dr)

Date written:

2011

Last updated:

2012