In 1988, the year of Australia’s bicentenary, the Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) was officially gazetted as Australia’s national floral emblem, enjoying a popular acceptance as the national flower long before then. We’ve been celebrating the Wattle for different reasons over the last century, and in 2020 for the first time, Brisbane is lighting up in yellow to celebrate National Wattle Day, however, it wasn’t until 1 September 1992 that our National Day has been celebrated together in all of Australia’s States and Territories, before then, it was recognised on different days between July (in Queensland) and October depending on its peak flowering season. So, with the start of the Australian spring on the first of September, wear a sprig of the flowers and leaves to celebrate the day with us. Alternatively, you could go all out and decorate your car in blooms as they did in Brisbane a century ago. Selling sprigs of Wattle Flowers, 1914 Wattle Day Procession, 1917 Vida Lahey Wattle in a yellow vase c.1912-15 Vida Lahey (1882-1968) is one of Queensland’s best loved artists, establishing her national profile with her modernist paintings of flowers in the 1920s and 30s. Australian floral subjects have been popular since the 1890s, and after Australia attained nationhood through the federation of its six states in 1901, sentiments of national pride, and patriotism soon developed with the Wattle a favourite floral subject and emblem of Australia. In Lahey’s lifetime, the Wattle flower was a favourite subject, with the Wattle Day League founded in Sydney in 1909, and a Queensland branch of the Wattle Day League established in 1912 by Mrs Josephine Papi. Her husband, Ferdinand, was an associate of the Queensland Art Society, of which Lahey was a member, and it is possible that Lahey contributed Wattle in a yellow vase c.1912-15 to a promotional event at the time, which is one of Lahey’s earliest flower studies. Daphne Mayo & Vida Lahey Besides Vida Lahey’s link to the Wattle Day League in Brisbane with her painting Wattle in a yellow vase, her contemporary Daphne Mayo (1895-1982), another celebrated Queensland artist and one of the country’s leading sculptors of the twentieth century, also had a Wattle connection. Educated in Brisbane, Mayo received a Diploma in Art Craftsmanship from the Brisbane Central Technical College in 1913, and during her time at the College, Mayo was influenced by LJ Harvey who initiated her interest in modelling. She further developed her skills when she was presented with an opportunity to go to London in 1919 (her departure from Brisbane being delayed for some years by the First World War) where she was accepted into the Sculpture School of the Royal Academy. Mayo had been awarded the Wattle Day travelling art fellowship in 1914, provided by the Queensland Wattle League. Mayo can be seen at the (old) Town Hall (illustrated) on Brisbane’s second Wattle Day in July 1914. Mayo is dressed as a wattle maid in the centre foreground. The Mayoress of Brisbane and the Central Committee of the Queensland Wattle Day League accompany her. Mayo and Lahey were active in Queensland art affairs over a long period, both were involved with the Queensland Art Gallery in various capacities and helped to establish the Queensland Art Fund (founded in 1929) with the aim of acquiring major works for the Gallery’s collection. Daphne Mayo as a wattle maid, 1914 Brisbane Town Hall, 1930s Edited curatorial extracts, research and supplementary material sourced and compiled by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA

Of all the works by (Frances) Vida Lahey (1882-1968), she is best known for her depiction of the weekly wash-day, Monday morning 1912 (illustrated). Known as a painter of oils on a wide range of subjects, she was also recognised throughout her career as a watercolourist of distinction for floral still lifes, therefore we have selected a suite of beautiful watercolours to profile. Lahey was among a new breed of artist — the trained professional — who superseded the Victorian tradition of the genteel lady amateur. One of Australia’s best known woman artists, Lahey was born at Pimpama, a northern suburb of the Gold Coast, and although she studied and travelled widely to London and Europe, she always returned to Brisbane where she lived and painted for most of her life. Vida Lahey in her studio, 1941 Women Prominent in Brisbane’s Art World, 1934 Exhibition opening, 1934 The art environment in Brisbane was particularly conservative, making Lahey’s vibrant flower studies highly visible expressions of modernist ideas at the Royal Queensland Art Society’s annual exhibitions. Although floral still lifes were a popular genre throughout Australia, Lahey’s handling of brilliant colour was considered exceptional. Various groupings can be made of Lahey’s flower studies — one by the artist herself — is using the same vase over a period for different studies, here we look at two such groupings from the Gallery’s Collection. The cretonne curtain 1933 Flower study (White daisies, phlox and petrea) 1965 This same jug — imported from Germany by notable Brisbane businessman Carl Zoeller — can be seen in The cretonne curtain 1933, and again much later in Flower study (White daisies, phlox and petrea) 1965, and indeed appears in many of Lahey’s works. Of interest, the flowers in Flower study, the blue flowering climber Petrea (also known as ‘Purple Wreath’) was a favourite of Lahey’s mother, the blossoms retaining their colour for many weeks before slowly fading. Art and nature 1934 Crocus and sunflowers 1955 Art and nature 1934, an exploration of the ‘white on white’ technique, is one of Lahey’s most complex still life paintings, commenting on the clash in painting of traditionalism and modernism, represented by a classical plaster bas relief by her friend and Brisbane contemporary Daphne Mayo, a book on Matisse, and the brilliantly coloured Mexican sunflower which yield dozens of daisy-like blooms. The same jug is used in Crocus and sunflowers 1955, with the shapes of strap-like leaves and jug forming an ellipse against a simple background of wall and window. Lahey and Mayo had a long association with the Queensland (National) Art Gallery, Lahey was a member of its Board of Advice from 1923 until 1930, in 1929 Lahey and Mayo founded the Queensland Art Fund, which purchased works, in 1932 Mayo was instrumental in obtaining for the Gallery its first major endowment, through the Godfrey Rivers Trust, enabling the Gallery to acquire contemporary Australian art, Lahey was a member of the acquisition committee until 1937, also a Trustee of the Godfrey Rivers Trust, and founder in 1941 of the Gallery’s child art scholarship class. Delve into the QAGOMA Collection Monday morning 1912, which shows two women doing the weekly wash with copper, tubs and bar soap, was once a common sight in Australian households. With the advent of mechanical aids and electricity this sight has now vanished, recording as it does a bygone era in vivid detail. In depicting the weekly washday at Lahey’s home in Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Monday morning records the life of most Queensland women in the early Twentieth Century. Esme, a younger sister, was the model for the woman at the washtub. Monday morning 1912 Australian floral subjects have been popular since the 1890s, and after Australia attained nationhood through the federation of its six states in 1901, sentiments of national pride, and patriotism soon developed with the Wattle a favourite floral subject and emblem of Australia. In Lahey’s lifetime, the Wattle Day League founded in Sydney in 1909, and a Queensland branch established in 1912, it is possible that Lahey painted Wattle in a yellow vase c.1912-15 for a promotional Wattle Day event at the time. Geraldton wax in vase c.1950s is of particular interest as a native Australian flower study as the Gallery currently holds only one other Australian floral subject by Lahey, Wattle in a yellow vase c.1912-15 (illustrated) which is one of Lahey’s earliest flower studies. Green vase with gerberas 1948 exhibits the intense vibrant colours she experimented with during the 1930s and 1940s. The works after the 1940s are more subdued however the play of pattern can be just as vibrant and experimental as seen in her use of distinctive table cloths and vases in her still life paintings. Wattle in a yellow vase 1912-15 Geraldton wax in vase 1950s Green vase with gerberas 1948 Edited extract by Glenn R Cooke, former Curator (Queensland Heritage), QAGOMA. Additional research and supplementary material by Elliott Murray, Senior Digital Marketing Officer, QAGOMA