Historical information

Milton Moon (1926-2019)

Born Melbourne, Victoria



Milton Moon attended the Central Technical College, Brisbane where he studied painting and drawing. In 1950 he undertook study in Ceramics with Harry Menmott and Mervyn Feeney at the Sandison Pottery, Brisbane.



He lectured in Ceramics at Central Technical College, Brisbane, and he was awarded a Churchill a Fellowship in 1966.
In 1974 he travelled and worked in Japan for a year, and established a workshop at Summertown in the Adelaide Hills. In 1984 Milton Moon was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his services to ceramics.



Milton Moon died in 2019. At the time of his death his website included the following:-

"In this, my 'ninety second year,' over sixty of which I have been a potter, I remain concerned, if a little obsessed, with the challenge of making pots, which although belonging to a ceramic tradition of some eight thousand years or more, are undeniably and uniquely Australian. With all my changes of expression this has remained constant.

The initial creative inspirations were drawn from the beauty of the coastal areas of Eastern Australia and from the mountain areas of the Great Dividing Range which stretch from North Queensland to the extreme South of Victoria. But the most lasting inspiration has come from the inland of Australia, more particularly from the Gammon and Flinders Ranges and from the Olary Uplands of South Australia, and more recently the Pilbara and Kimberley areas of Western Australia, where rock engravings place them as being amongst the oldest marks left by human-kind anywhere in the world.

All parts of Australia are full of an ancient history stretching back through time and which today, despite white settlement, somehow still survives in legend and ritual. If it is the case that these legends do now only exist, in some muted half-life there is still the sense that they remain as a very powerful 'spirit-presence.' It is impossible to ignore the feeling that this country remains inhabited by the past. For me it is also impossible not to creatively respond to the echoes of the past, even if only through the somewhat vague process of inspiration and distillation. To understand this spirit, even a little, is a privilege but to try an express it is a compelling endeavour.



This item is part of the Federation University Art Collection. The Art Collection features over 2000 works and was listed as a 'Ballarat Treasure' in 2007.

Physical description

Large ceramic platter, framed for display on wall.