After training as a Cartographic Draftsman within the mining industry, I worked as a property illustrator for real estate firms in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne for 23 years from 1983. I initially photographed houses with a Polaroid camera and made a 'thumbnail' sketch while there. The photos were used to scale off a sketch in pencil and then that sketch was overlaid with drafting film and the 'pen and ink' completed. The pens I used were the Rotring ‘Rapidigraph’ drafting pens. The ink was also made by Rotring (German).The film was ‘Rapidraw’, polyester drafting film, double matte. It takes a very fine line and doesn’t bleed. As well as house sketches, there were often floor plans and site plans ordered. Aerial sketches were ordered when the property needed an overall view. (Margaret Picken, 2020)This architectural is one of a series created by Margaret Picken for a range of real estate agents in Melbourne between c.1983 and c.2005. Each work is signed and dated by the artist.Gift of Margaret Picken, 2020Pen and ink drawing on drafting film of 10 Blytheswood Court, Kew by Margaret Picken.10 BLYTHESWOOD CRT., KEW / MARGARET PICKEN '95 / WOODARDS ~ C'WELLartist -- margaret picken 1950-, architectural drawings -- houses -- kew (vic.), 10 blytheswood court -- kew (vic.)

'The land on which 'Swinton'was later built was first purchased by John Bakewell in 1851 and later sold to Edmund Laskey Splatt in 1858. Splatt was a member of the first provisional committee of the National Bank of Australia in Melbourne and built the first house on the land naming it 'Laskey Villa'. By 1863 the house was occupied by Herbert Henty. The Johnson family connection with the property began with the marriage in 1858 of Annabella Johnson to David Syme, owner of the Áge' newspaper and owner of the adjacent property 'Blytheswood'. Annabella's brother, Francis Johnson, bought the villa in 1876 and renamed it 'Swinton' after his birthplace in Yorkshire. The property was later owned by the artistic Colquhoun family. The house is one of the earliest examples of the Italianate style in Victoria - the outstanding element being the tower with its cantilevered walkway and heavily bracketed pryamidal tower.' Source: Victorian Heritage RegisterThis work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand. The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical SocietySwinton in Kew and its tower. This side of the house faces the Yarra River.swinton, laskey villa, swinton avenue, kew, dorothy rogers

This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand. The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society."The land on which Swinton was later built was first purchased by John Bakewell in 1851 and later sold to Edmund Laskey Splatt in 1858. Splatt was a member of the first provisional committee of the National Bank of Australia in Melbourne and built the first house on the land naming it Laskey Villa. By 1863 the house was occupied by Herbert Henty. The Johnson family connection with the property began with the marriage in 1858 of Annabella Johnson to David Sym - owner of The Age newspaper and owner of the adjacent property Blytheswood. Annabella's brother, Francis Johnson, bought the villa in 1876 and renamed it Swinton after his birthplace in Yorkshire. The property was later owned by the artistic Colquhoun family. The house is one of the earliest examples of the Italianate style in Victoria - the outstanding element being the tower with its cantilevered walkway and heavily bracketed pyramidal tower. (Source: Victorian Heritage Database)"Swinton. Built about 1959-60. Chap.20 Swinton. Johnson - Col"swinton, swinton avenue (kew)

The extensive formal landscaped gardens of Rockingham had been created in the 1860s, and by the 1950s remained bordered to the south by the Barkers Road cutting, and to the north by Blytheswood, the neighbouring Syme family property, By 1940, the Syme family were no longer the occupiers of Rockingham. John Herbert Syme had died in October 1939, and by August the following year, his wife had made the house and garden available, rent free to the Red Cross as a convalescent home for Australian soldiers injured in the Second World War. At the time, the house was described as containing twenty rooms, including a ballroom and a billiards room, with a garden of eight acres overlooking the Yarra. The task of renovating the house to conform to its new function as a convalescent home took a year, finally opening in August 1941. Community support for Rockingham was widespread and included the decision by the National Gallery of Victoria to loan pictures from its collection to decorate the walls. Calls were made for women around Victoria to donate fruit and vegetables from their gardens, which the railways agreed to freight for free. Other local support included the work by a team of boys to establish a three-acre vegetable garden within the formal terraced gardens. From the beginning, occupational therapy formed a key component of the rehabilitation of psychologically injured soldiers. This is confirmed by contemporary newspaper accounts of weaving, ironwork, leatherwork, basketry and gardening by patients. Numerous photographs, held by the Australian War Memorial (AWM) and the State Library of Victoria (SLV), record the importance of these rehabilitation activities. The painting of the view across the river to Abbotsford may have been painted in one of these occupational therapy sessions. For many decades it hung in the occupational therapy room. It must have been on view following the sale of Rockingham by the Syme family to the Red Cross in 1955, and subsequently, until the house was demolished and its grounds finally subdivided in 1977.View of Abbotsford from the garden of Rockingham (1952) was created by V Maloney. The vantage point of the artist was the garden of Rockingham, one of two mansions overlooking the Yarra owned by the Syme family. The artwork depicts a number of sites - especially factories - that have since been demolished.Signed by the artist, lower right "V Maloney"rockingham red cross convalescent home, hospitals - kew (vic), rosemary lade, art therapy