It was the Ford Family who did most to remove the invisible barrier between "art" and "craft" that saw potters looked down upon by the art crowd as makers of functional, commercial objects.
The story starts as far back as 1810s or so, as more and more convicts flooded Australian shores ... some pottery is so beautiful as it is strange like feet warmers or oil making pots richly-decorated objects. Czech (sic) strikingly turquoise Antipodean bottles and vases ... as well as bread boards
What is likely the oldest known pottery made in Australia, is on show at the National Museum of Australian Pottery in Holbrook in southern New South Wales.
Early Australian pottery on display in Holbrook
Owner and Director of the National Museum of Australian Pottery Geoff Ford OAM says the characters were and remain collectable.
MCP operated in Australia from 1945 to 1965.
"They (MCP) were the only ones that received a license to produce Disney figurines in Australia and of course now they are very popular... The figures really grab your eye, they are lovely, (today) they rarely come on the market."
Geoff Ford of Holbrook Pottery fame
Heritage consultant Mary Casey, a director of Casey & Lowe, helps Geoff and Kerrie Ford of the National Museum of Australian Pottery open the first exhibition of some of Australia’s earliest pottery. Picture: MATTHEW SMITHWICK
One of Australia’s best kept secrets The National Museum of Australian Pottery in Holbrook, is the only Museum dedicated to 19th and early 20th century Australian pottery.Over 1,500 pieces of domestic pottery are on display from over 120 Australian pottery companies established between European settlement and 1920. The Collection represents in many ways the struggle, courage and determination of many of our early potters who, often under difficult circumstances, produced basic and decorative pottery, frequently with spectacular results.The Museum is open Thursday to Tuesday, 9.30 to 4.30. For groups of 20 to 50 we have a special offer. Homemade Devonshire tea available.
National Museum of Australian Pottery next to The Ten Miles Cafe
The National Museum of Australian Pottery is located in the town of Holbrook, New South Wales.[1] It holds over 1700 pieces of domestic Australian pottery made in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The pieces in the collection were made by more than 120 Australian potteries and includes items such as tea pots, jugs, water filters, spruce and ginger beer bottles, along with a large variety of colourful and decorative pieces.
The museum includes work by the convict potter, Jonathon Leak (1777-1838).[2] Leak's pieces are the earliest marked pieces of Australian pottery.[3]Many of the Leak pieces on display were recovered from a clay pit in Sydney during an archaeological dig in 2007.[3]
The museum opened in Wodonga, Victoria in 1995, and moved to Holbrook in 2006. The museum building was originally a large department store built in 1910 for A. H. Mackie and Company. The owners and directors of the museum are Geoff and Kerrie Ford. In 2001 Geoff was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for "service to the arts, particularly the study of early Australian pottery, and to the community."[4] Ford has written several book on Australian pottery, including Australian Pottery: The first 100 years (1995),[5] the Encyclopaedia of Australian Potter's Marks (1998)[6]and Convict Potters of Australia 1821 to 1851 (2001).[2]
The National Museum of Australian Pottery also has an ongoing program of short-term exhibitions.
Crafts and art lovers - CODA:
Dr Russell Cope has also built up an extensive collection of contemporary Australian (and Japanese) pottery, fine examples of which adorned his office. Some were occasionally displayed in the library’s showcases and a large proportion of it is now housed in the Sydney Powerhouse Museum and Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Launceston
/Composed at
Crafts and art lovers - CODA:
Dr Russell Cope has also built up an extensive collection of contemporary Australian (and Japanese) pottery, fine examples of which adorned his office. Some were occasionally displayed in the library’s showcases and a large proportion of it is now housed in the Sydney Powerhouse Museum and Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Launceston
/Composed at
The Ten Mile - 120 Albury Street, Holbrook, New South Wales 2644
