The letters address three parents of daughters who attended Ruyton Girls' School at the time — Mrs Friedman, Mrs Horan and Mrs McDonald. The letters invite the three mothers to make a contribution to the School's war scholarship fund by making homemade sandwiches or cakes to help cater the annual School dance, or providing a small financial donation towards it. Although the letters are signed by Hilda Daniell, given that the handwriting differs across all three examples, it is possible the content of the letters were scribed by a student or assistant to the Principal. The war scholarship fund (also referred to as the Scholarship Fund) was managed by the treasurer of the Old Ruytonian's Association (ORA); Ruyton's alumnae community. The earliest mention of Ruyton's war scholarship fund is in the Ruytonian December 1918, which recalls how the Senior Dramatic Club performed Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" in the Kew Recreation Hall and raised over £100 to "provide a Ruyton scholarship for the daughter of a soldier who has given his life for his country." In the Ruytonian December 1955, the criteria for the war scholarship fund was revised to prioritise students in the following order: the child of a deceased serviceman, an ex-serviceman, and an Old Ruytonian. Other editions of the Ruytonian from this period recount how students also participated in fundraising activities to support the scholarship. It is unclear when the war scholarship fund ceased.The letters are historically significant as they were written by Miss Hilda Daniell, the longest serving Principal of Ruyton Girls' School from 1913-1952. She had enrolled as a student at Ruyton in 1893, and then appeared in a list of teaching staff dated 1898. When Hilda became Principal in 1913, Ruyton was still located on A'Beckett Street in Kew, Victoria. Hilda had purchased "Tarring" (now Henty House) from the old Henty family estate in 1919 to accommodate the growing School. In 1920, Hilda, teachers and the students moved to Ruyton's new location at "Tarring", 12 Selbourne Rd, Kew. The building became home for Ruyton’s boarding students and included a flat for Hilda to live onsite. Hilda passed away in March 1970. The record's significance is also supported by its strong provenance, having been produced by Ruyton Girls' School and donated to the Archives by the daughter of a former student.Three individual loose sheets of cream coloured paper, each printed with Ruyton Girls' School's name and emblem. All sheets are handwritten with black/charcoal ink and signed by H. (Hilda) Daniell.Reverse: RGS008/2024/0007.1 / Reverse: RGS008/2024/0007.2 / Reverse: RGS008/2024/0007.3 /ruyton girls' school, students, scholarship, school, ruyton, principal, victoria, high school, senior school, day school, letter, miss hilda daniell, hilda daniell, henty, tarring, old ruytonians association, kew recreation hall, kew

Jan Senbergs was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1939 and came to Australia when he was ten. Senbergs’ work has been characterised by a simple and bold aesthetic. From lush landscapes to barren urban spaces, his body of work signifies an artist who has continually experimented with shape, form and motif, a fundamental humanist vision, a finely-honed sense of the absurd, and a rigorous studio practice spanning printmaking, drawing and painting. Senbergs is Baldessin's exact contemporary. He was also born in Europe and fled his homeland because of the war, arriving in Melbourne in 1950. Like George, Senbergs also worked at the RMIT and in 1973 represented Australia at the Bienal de Sao Paulo. Senbergs first met George when he was living in St. Kilda. George asked if he could screen print his 'Argus' catalogue for a show at the gallery in the Argus building. George Baldessin (1939-1978) was born in San Biagio di Callalta, in the Veneto in Northern Italy and arrived in Australia ten years later. A printmaker and sculptor he built his bluestone studio at St Andrews (Nillumbik) in 1971. The bluestone studio was hand built by George, his partner Tess and the three Hails brothers, Rob, Doug and Don. Made of recycled materials the studio today contains all of George’s equipment including the large press, which he modelled himself with the help of Neil Jeffrey (Enjay Presses). George won many prizes throughout his career and is represented in many of Australia's public art collections including his famous 'Pears' sculpture in front of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. In 1975 he represented Australia in the Sao Paulo Biennale, before living and working in Paris until his return to St Andrews in 1977. In 1978 George was killed in a car accident aged 39 years. In 2001 Tess returned to St Andrews to reclaim the run-down studio and reconstitute it as The Baldessin Press & Studio - a printmaking retreat. It operates in George’s memory, so that artists may continue to create, perpetuating the generous spirit of George.'New Jersey - rust belt' is one of eight prints in the 'Baldessin & Friends commemorative folio. The folio was conceived by Tess Edwards as a fundraising initiative in celebration of the The Baldessin Press & Studio's fifteen year anniversary, and as a way to honour George Baldessin's memory. The Baldessin Press & Studio is a not-for-profit organisation created in memory of the late George Baldessin (1939-1978), whose original studio is now open to the public for creative use and as a practical legacy to living artists. The Studio is located in St Andrews, Nillumbik. The folio is a unique coming together of seven very different and acclaimed artists who are connected by their friendship to the missing eighth member, George Baldessin. This print finds its' origins in the time Senbergs spent at Harvard in America in 1989-90. In the context of Baldessin it explores an industrial urban surreal vision that was common to both artist. The image captures the life force of the city revealing the keen and observant eye of Jan Senbergs. Similar in sensibility to his large scale charcoal drawings of the 1990s, the artwork is not only a record of what the artist sees, but of what interest him. By following the movement of each line the viewer can witness the artist's eye travelling through, over and around each element of the urban landscape. The scale is deceptive with the image bled to the full-size of the sheet of paper like a microcosm of a much bigger whole. sugar lift etching of an urban (cityscape - New Jersey) scene - bridges, roads, buildings, in thick black brushstrokes. The image is busy; full of energy and movement. A bleed print in which the paper barely contains the city scape. In pencil (handwritten): top centre: left '14/25' (edition); centre 'New Jersey-Rustbelt' (title); right 'Jan Senbergs' (signature); print, sugarlift etching, urban landscape, ekphrasis2018, new jersey, line, rust belt

In 1977, artist Annette Meikle undertook a commission to illustrate a book recording stories of places and people in the Bayside area. It was published in 1978 as Sandringham Sketchbook, with text by Elizabeth Waters. The sketches were intended to record remaining examples of Bayside’s early architecture and environment, as well as reflect newer architectural changes. Meikle went on to donate 22 of these sketches to Bayside City Council in 2003. In the mid 1870s wealthy solicitor David Abbot bought a large block on the corner of Bamfield Street and Beach Road and built an imposing family home with a stately tower. It featured rare Hawthorn Blacks – hand-made bricks of brown-red with streaks of charcoal black. For many years the home was the most prominent in the district. In 1922 ‘Coggeshall’ was subdivided, and the house was sold to the Sandringham Club, a gentleman’s club that had formed in 1913 and required more space for its growing membership. Members enjoyed lawn tennis courts, a bowling green and a cricket green, as well as a large billiard room. The Sandringham Club still owns ‘Coggeshall’.Annette Meikle, Sandringham Club 1977, ink and watercolour, 25.7 x 35.7 cm. Bayside City Council Art and Heritage Collection. Donated by the artist, 2003annette meikle, sandringham sketchbook, elizabeth waters, sandringham, sandringham club, gentleman’s club, coggeshall, david abbot, historic house

Donated by the artist, 2019Paper, Painting, Acrylic, Charcoal, Canvasgippsland, artwork, permanent collection

Dong Ho is on the Duong River in Bắc Ninh Province, Vietnam. The woodcut painting (Tranh khắc gỗ dân gian Dong Ho is a line of Vietnamese folk painting originating in Dong Ho village. The traditional themes of Dong Ho painting are good luck signs, historical figures, folk allegories, popular stories, and social commentaries. Elements of everyday life are well integrated in Dong Ho paintings to express the thoughts and wishes of people. (Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_H%E1%BB%93_painting, accessed 11 April 2017.) Craftsmen in Dong Ho use a special type of paper named giấy điệp. The bark of dó tree, which normally is grown in Tuyên Quang Province, is soaked in water for months, then mixed with powders of seashells (sò điệp), which is the origin of the paper's name, and glutinous rice to make sheets of paper. The s seashell and glutinous rice results in paper with an exotic sparkling hard background which is able to conserve the durability of colours. The colours are refined from natural materials which are easily found in Vietnam. For instance, the red colour is taken from red gravel in Thiên Thai Mountain, while the black comes from charcoal of burned bamboo leaves. The hand carved woodblock is applied with paint and pressed on a sheet of paper like a stamp. The process is repeated with different colours until the craftsman is satisfied with the outcome. One woodcut is for outline and several others are for each colour printed. The finished picture is covered with a layer of rice paste (hồ nếp) to strengthen the durability of its illustration and colours and afterwards dried under the sun. From beginning to end the process takes six to seven months. (Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_H%E1%BB%93_painting, accessed 11 April 2017.) The tradition of Đông Hồ painting dates back to the 11th century during the reign of the Lý Dynasty. Originally, Đông Hồ paintings were made with black-and-white prints of woodcuts, but from the 15th century, different colours were introduced by craftsmen in the village. As a village specialized in making woodcuts and paintings, almost all Đông Hồ villagers were involved in the manufacturing of paintings from carving the woodblocks, producing điệp papers, obtaining natural colours to creating new themes, and printing.(Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_H%E1%BB%93_painting, accessed 11 April 2017.) Before 1945 over 150 families in Đông Hồ village were making pictures, but the tradition has rapidly faded. Villagers can no longer make a living based on this production so only a few households in the village still make pictures, while many others have switched to producing joss paper and votive paper object.(Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_H%E1%BB%93_painting, accessed 11 April 2017.)Asian ArtA framed collection of work by children from Dong Ho Village, Vietnam.dong ho, vietnam, woodcut, printmaking, dong ho art, dong ho painting, dong ho village, vietnam.

Australia 1980Charcoal, black and white chalk and wash

Jenna Lee dissects and reconstructs colonial 'Indigenous dictionaries' and embeds the works with new cultural meaning. Long obsessed with the duality of the destructive and healing properties that fire can yield, this element has been applied to the paper in the forms of burning and mark-making. In Without Us, Lee uses charcoal to conceal the text on the page, viewing this process as a ritualistic act of reclaiming and honouring Indigenous heritage while challenging the oppressive legacies of colonialism. Lee explains in Art Guide (2022), ‘These books in particular [used to create the proposed works] are Aboriginal language dictionaries—but there’s no such thing as “Aboriginal language”. There are hundreds of languages. The dictionary just presents words, with no reference to where they came from. It was specifically published by collating compendiums from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, with the purpose to give [non-Indigenous] people pleasant sounding Aboriginal words to name children, houses and boats. And yet the first things that were taken from us was our language, children, land and water. And the reason our words were so widely written down was because [white Australians] were trying to eradicate us. They thought we were going extinct. The deeper you get into it, the darker it gets. But the purpose of my work is to take those horrible things and cast them as something beautiful.’Framed artwork

Black and white charcoal drawing of a cattle truck. Cartoon style. The truck has 'Borthwick's Cattle Truck' written on it and there are cows on the top of the truck with speech bubbles saying 'You Bastards', 'We're Dead', 'Mum', 'This Sucks'. The driver is saying 'Shut Up!'. In the background is a small building with smoke rising from it. It says 'Borthwick's' across the front.Bottom right - GM 2011borthwick's, portland businesses, abbatoir