The first Kew Congregational Church in Walpole Street, was designed by Charles Vickers, and opened in 1860. The second church on the site, designed by the architect Charles Wharton was demolished in 1970s. Rare photograph of the interior decoration and layout of an important and now demolished church in KewBlack and white photograph, on card, featuring the interior of the Kew Congregational Church. Shows detail of pews, pulpit and ornate brickwork. Front: "The Sears Studio" "Melbourne" [printed on mounting board]. Reverse: "P. Inside of Kew Congregational Church" wapole street - kew (vic), congregational churches - kew (vic), chirch interiors

Ordsall, renamed Southesk in the 20th century was built for John Halfey in or before 1865. The house was rebuilt in the 1870s to designs by architect Michael Hennessy. In 1882 the house was redecorated by the firm of Culls Hill & Co., who hired the artists 'Mr Vandenbrandt' and 'Signor Rizzi" to paint the ceilings of the ballroom and the drawingroom. The artistic triumph was described in detail in The Argus, 30 October, 1882. In 1947, Southesk was purchased by the Kew City Council. For 23 years it was used as a meeting place for community groups. The house was then demolished in 1970 to make way for a new Town Hall.This is the earliest known photograph of Ordsall / South Esk, a significant mansion in Kew, built for John Halfey and now demolishedMembers of the Kew Congregational Church in front of one of the verandas of Southesk, circa 1900.congregational church - kew (vic), south esk - south esk - ordsall - kew (vic)

The Melbourne artist Alma Agnes Marion Figuerola, was the daughter of Juan Pedro Narciso Figuerola (1869-1919) and Alice Lucinda Walker Hanson (1889-1969). Each of their three daughters grew up to be involved in the arts: Alma as a painter; Carmen Irene (1906-1993) as a short story writer, poet and teacher of dancing; and Sylvia (also Silvia) Lyla Alice (1911-1992) as a composer and cellist. The first art lessons Alma Figuerola received were with Oscar Binder. Later she attended the art school established by the Melbourne 'tonalist' [Duncan] Max Meldrum (1875-1955). She graduated from his school in 1920, participating in her first group exhibition in the same year. Solo exhibitions of her work were to be held in 1933 at the Meldrum Gallery in Elizabeth Street, in 1937 and 1945 at the Athenaeum Gallery at 188 Collins Street, and in 1951 at Georges Gallery in Collins Street. Throughout her extensive career she participated in group exhibitions, usually with artists of the Meldrum School, and as a member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters, of which she was invited to become an associate in 1935. In 1953, her portrait of Professor ES Hills was entered in the Archibald Prize Competition of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. A resident of Kew from the 1930s - 51 Studley Park Road, often with her mother, her sister Carmen, or both - from c.1942 until her death she lived at 'D’Estaville', 7 Barry Street. From the late 1930s she is recorded as actively contributing to the arts at a local level. In 1939 and 1940 she participated in art exhibitions at the Hawthorn Municipal Library organised by Jessie Carbines. From 1944 to 1951 she co-organised successive Kew Arts Festivals, initially in the Presbyterian Church Hall in Highbury Grove and later at the Recreation Hall in Wellington Street. A foundation member of the Kew Historical Society in 1958, Alma Figuerola remained an active member of the Society until her death on 8 December 1970. She predeceased her two sisters who both died in the 1990s and who are buried at Andersons' Creek Cemetery in Warrandyte.Photograph of a group of adults attending an exhibition entitled Artists of Kew. Two people have been identified in the photograph - Cr WHS Dickinson and Alma Figuerola at centre. The location of the exhibition is at the old Kew Town Hall in Walpole Street. Both Miss Figuerola and Cr Dickinson were foundation members of the Kew Historical Society.Reverse: "Artists of Kew Exhibition. Founder of KHS Cr Dickinson in dark suit. Miss Alma Figrierola [sic] to his left". "KH-97" kew historical society - members, alma figuerola, cr whs dickinson, exhibitions - kew (vic), southesk - cotham road - kew (vic), kew town hall - walpole street

The gouache was presented to Cr Jill O'Brien, Mayor of Kew in 1983-4, who was instrumental in the purchase of the window. The same Kewriosity article, referred to in the physical description, states that the window was originally commissioned from the artist by a Kew timber merchant, and following ownership by successive owners found its way back to Kew. The framed photograph is part of the Jill O'Brien collection which was gifted to the Kew Historical Society following her death in July 2016. The collection includes important primary sources relating to a number of areas in which Jill O'Brien made a significant contribution including the establishment of the Villa Alba Museum, local government, the Kew Historical Society, the Yarra Bend Trust, and the arts.Framed gouache on paper of the design by the artist Alan Sumner for his window, The Four Seasons. The window, now in Kew Library was purchased to commemorate Kew's 125th Anniversary. An article in a contemporary issue of Kewriosity states: The window is approximately three metres in diameter and divided into one central and four outer panels. Clockwise from the top is Autumn with sinuous lines in yellow and brown, then winter in cool blues and mauves with lines and circles suggesting rain, snow and hail. Spring follows in the bottom left quadrant with organic ovaloid shapes richly coloured and lines evoking growth. Then to the top where summer explodes with the colours of fire and blue of the sky at the height of summer. The centre panel has a powerful image of sun, moon and stars which links the surrounding panels".jill o’brien, public art - kew (vic), stained glass - kew (vic), alan sumner - the four seasons, kew library, public art