History Notes - Grace Crowley
History Notes
Another busy week for some of our members with two days of gathering to discuss disasters and how to deal with them in your museum. The first day’s meeting was held in Manilla and the second rather shorter day was held in Barraba. Although some of the ideas were more appropriate for larger sites in bigger towns we have a few ideas to apply in Barraba.
Recently we have had several visitors looking for their family history with varied success - Finn is one that keeps on coming up - another Simshauser is coming this week and the Faddy family were also recent visitors.
A copy of the Weekend Australia Review sparked a bit of interest with an article on Grace Crowley this week. It seems that Barraba's population has either not known about her or has forgotten her. I have gathered a bit from 'Grace Crowley, being modern' to remind our residents.
Grace Crowley was born on 28th May, 1890, at the The Forest which in those days was the southern end of Cobbadah Station. Her grandfather, William Crowley, died in 1892, and Henry & Elizabeth Crowley with their five children moved north to the main station and lived at Tycolah for a few years until the estate was settled and Henry was able to purchase his own station.
They moved to Glen Riddle - a property run by this family for many years. Grace was always interested in art and showed her early talent by drawing on the old square kitchen water tank with some white chalk. Later she drew the animals around the farm including her father's prize bull. Her mother was so impressed with this picture that she sent it to a magazine early in the 1900's and it won a prize.
In 1905 both Crowley girls were sent to boarding school at MLC in Burwood for a year. Uncle Archibald Crowley had already moved to Sydney and suggested that Grace attend classes with the Julian Ashton Sydney Art School. Grace was not interested and returned to Glen Riddle to do housework.
Julian Ashton could see her talent but she was still not interested but did eventually return to Sydney branching out with other artists. She met her friend Anne Dangar in 1914 and it was 12 years before they went to France to learn cubism and abstract painting.
Grace came home to Australia in 1929 and split her time between her aging parents and living in Sydney. She was shown in some exhibitions and then of course there was the exhibition at the National Gallery in 2007.
Grace lived in Sydney and Mittagong in the last years of her life. She died in 1979 at her unit in Manly.