Tweed River Art Gallery has recreated a classroom for visitors to experience and participate in summer-school drawing and writing activities inspired by the past, as part of the Seven Little Australians exhibition on display until 5 February.
The exhibition brings the classic novel Seven Little Australians to life through illustrations by John Lennox.
Created for the 1994 centennial edition of the book, Lennox’s oil paintings portray the period of 1894, when the first edition was written by novelist Ethel Turner.
A gallery spokesperson says the fine, rich detail of the individual characters, settings and period clothing will captivate viewers, young and old alike, and introduce another generation to this classic Australian story. In addition to the schoolroom installation, museum artefacts from bygone school days and childhoods are also on display, on loan from Tweed River Regional Museum.
As part of this collaboration with the museum, teacher and Tweed River Regional Museum volunteer Bev Fairley will present hands-on insights into methods of communication and domestic tasks as they were performed more than 100 years ago. Bev, a descendant of the Tweed’s first postmaster, will also show items from her personal collection.
The four free sessions of Life in Yesteryear are on Saturday 21 January at 2pm, Sunday 22 January at 11am and Wednesday 25 January at 11am and 2pm.
Image: A little role reversal at the Tweed River Art Gallery: Ilma Doehau has the answer to Georgia Hargraves’s question while naughty Johnny at the back of the class continues to get up to shenanigans. Jeff ‘A Little Learning Is A Dangerous Thing’ Dawson
