Heather George

Heather George (1907–1983) was a commercial photographer known for her industrial, fashion and outback photography, and a designer and painter.[1]

Heather George
Portrait of Heather George by Noel Rubie, published in the July 1938 edition of The Home: An Australian Quarterly. Image courtesy National Library of Australia
Born(1907-04-29)29 April 1907
Gordon, New South Wales
Died1983
Paddington, New South Wales?
NationalityAustralian
OccupationFreelance photographer, artist
Known forWalkabout photographer

Early life

Heather George was born on 29 April 1907 in Gordon, New South Wales to father Wesley, a builder, and mother Helen. She attended public primary schools and then a boarding school in the Blue Mountains which was a better climate for her asthma. After secondary education she went to East Sydney Technical College to study art and commercial art amongst fellow students including Dahl Collings, Elaine Haxton, Joshua Smith, taught by sculptor Rayner Hoff,[2] and later continued her studies in British-born James S. Watkins' private Sydney art school[3] in order to concentrate on drawing.

On leaving Technical College in 1927 George went to live with her family in Canberra after its official opening, where here father and his partner had built a number of early Canberra buildings. There, she taught art at St Gabriel's Church of England Grammar School and arts and crafts at the Y.W.C.A. She joined the Artists' Society of Canberra and was the first woman to be on the council.

On return to Sydney some years later George practised as a commercial artist designing in the then-emerging field of neon signs for businesses and theatres.

After a break from study of some years Heather again took up training in painting with fellow students Helen Lempriere, Matcham Skipper, Lesley Sinclair and Madeleine Jorgensen under the tonalist artist Justus Jorgenson in Melbourne,[4][5] where she worked in textile design at Vida Turner's firm at 191 Queen Street.[6]

Photographer

By 1938, at the age of 31, she had taken up photography professionally and worked at the Noel Rubie’s (1901–1976) portrait and industrial photography studio in Sydney. Taken by Rubie, a wistful portrait of George,[5] who was an actor and artist as well as a photographer, appears full-page in a 1938 issue of The Home : an Australian quarterly[7] over the caption "Miss Heather George, of Artarmon, is a youthful Sydney artist who has lately abandoned painting for photography".  She later practiced at a series of Melbourne and Victorian country photography studios.[5]

By the late 1950s George had become a freelance photographer and photojournalist,[5] photographing Sydney’s older suburbs, and stately homes in Hunters Hill[8] She moved to Victoria and recorded the nineteenth-century slate-tiled warehouses of the St James Buildings,[9] the demolition of the Eastern Markets[5] and the construction of the King Street Bridge,[10][11][5] the watch-tower of Melbourne’s fire station,[12] and mud-brick buildings in Eltham.[13]

In 1952 George stayed for months in the outback of the Northern Territory, where her sister and her sister's husband were stationed at several reservations, and there photographed indigenous subjects for whom she developed great respect and love,[2] including the Warlpiri people whom she described as among Australia's "most hardy and interesting aborigines",[14] and others on the reserves,[15] including school children at Areyonga Aboriginal Reserve,[16] or working in cattle stations[17][18][19][20] including Wave Hill.[21][5]

George shared her time between Melbourne and Sydney, and after 24 years based in Melbourne, settled in Paddington in the sixties, the suburb in which her grandfather Tom George was for many years an alderman and at one time Mayor.[2] She continued to be a regular contributor of photographs for Walkabout,[2][5] and many articles of the 60s feature her pictures of that suburb, of Woolloomooloo,[22] Castlecrag,[23] and of other features of Sydney, including Taronga Park Zoo,[24] the Butler Stairs of Kings Cross,[25] the multi-storied Chevron-Hilton hotel at Potts Point under construction,[26] the emerging street cafés[27] Macquarie Street,[28] and the Mitchell Library.[29] She travelled to Hobart for pictures of the Cat and Fiddle Square[30] Her work also appeared in Hoofs and Horns, Pix, Women's Day, as well as the National Trust Magazine.[5]

Later life

George discontinued her work as a photojournalist in the late 1960s but continued to draw and paint.[2] She died in 1983.

Collections

References
  1. George, Heather (1900), [Heather George : Art & Artist Files (Australia and New Zealand)], retrieved 4 November 2019
  2. George, Heather; De Berg, Hazel, 1913-1984. (Interviewer) (1965), Heather George interviewed by Hazel de Berg in the Hazel de Berg collection, retrieved 4 November 2019CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Clifford-Smith, Silas (2009). "John Samuel Watkins (1866-1942) was an English born portrait painter best known for operating a popular Sydney based art school during the early decades of the twentieth century". Design and Art Australia Online.
  4. Teichman, Jenny (1976), Justus Jorgensen : conversations and a memoir, Privately printed for the author, retrieved 3 November 2019
  5. Hall, Barbara; Mather, Jenni, 1946- (1986), Australian women photographers 1840-1960, Greenhouse Publications, ISBN 978-0-86436-039-7CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Bogle, Michael (22 December 2014). "Vida Turner was a textile designer working from 191 Queen Street, Melbourne registered in 1939 as V.J. Turner P/L formerly trading as R.M. and Vida J. Turner. A 1940 report states she began at 19 years of age and employed 35 women in Melbourne with a branch in Sydney". Design and Art Australia Online.
  7. The Home : an Australian quarterly. Vol. 19 No. 7 (1 July 1938) Sydney : Art in Australia, 1920-1942
  8. George, Heather (1958), "The Stately Homes of Hunter's Hill", Walkabout, 24 (10): 27–28, ISSN 0043-0064
  9. Australian Geographical Society (1 November 1957), "CAMERA SUPPLEMENT Some Australian Buildings (1 November 1957)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 23 (11), ISSN 0043-0064
  10. Australian Geographical Society (1 April 1959), "Melbourne's New King Street Bridge and foundations (1 April 1959)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 25 (4), ISSN 0043-0064
  11. Australian Geographical Society (1 April 1961), "A BRIDGE IS BUILT (1 April 1961)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 27 (4), ISSN 0043-0064
  12. Australian Geographical Society (1 July 1958), "THE WATCH-TOWER OF MELBOURNE'S EARLY FIRE BRIGADE STATION (1 July 1958)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 24 (7), ISSN 0043-0064
  13. Australian Geographical Society (1 February 1957), "CAMERA SUPPLEMENT (1 February 1957)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 23 (2), ISSN 0043-0064
  14. George, Heather (1952), "The Wailbri", Walkabout, 18 (7): 19–20, ISSN 0043-0064
  15. Australian Geographical Society (1 January 1955), "Building with Limestone and Rock in Northern Territory (1 January 1955)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 21 (1), ISSN 0043-0064
  16. "School children at Areyonga Aboriginal Reserve Northern Territory, training for the first inter-aboriginal school sports meeting, to be held at Alice Springs | Heather GEORGE | NGV | View Work". www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  17. Australian Geographical Society (1 February 1962), "THE SHAPES OF SHIPS (1 February 1962)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 28 (2), ISSN 0043-0064
  18. Lamond, Henry G (1964), "Dark Ladies", Walkabout, 30 (5): 34–36, ISSN 0043-0064
  19. Australian Geographical Society (1 June 1968), "CITIZEN ABORIGINES -their problem (1 June 1968)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 34 (6), ISSN 0043-0064
  20. Australian Geographical Society (1 February 1955), "AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHICAL WALKABOUT MAGAZINE (1 February 1955)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 21 (2), ISSN 0043-0064
  21. George, Heather. "Group of Aboriginal boys, Wave Hill Station, Northern Territory". National Gallery of Victoria. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  22. George, Heather (1962), "Woolloomooloo", Walkabout, 28 (11): 23–25, ISSN 0043-0064
  23. Buhrich, Eva M (1967), "Castlecrag---The Suburb Griffin Created", Walkabout, 33 (4): 30–32, ISSN 0043-0064
  24. Howard, Kendrick (1966), "Zoo with a View", Walkabout, 32 (1): 30–33, ISSN 0043-0064
  25. Australian Geographical Society (1 June 1961), "The Australian Scene (1 June 1961)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 27 (6), ISSN 0043-0064
  26. Australian Geographical Society (1 August 1960), "Camera Supplement (1 August 1960)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 26 (8), ISSN 0043-0064
  27. Australian Geographical Society (1 May 1960), "Camera Supplement (1 May 1960)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 26 (5), ISSN 0043-0064
  28. Australian Geographical Society (1 July 1964), "UP....TO MACQRIE STREET (1 July 1964)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 30 (7), ISSN 0043-0064
  29. Joinson, Don; George, Heather (1968), "Treasures of the Mitchell", Walkabout, 34 (10): 28–31, ISSN 0043-0064
  30. Australian Geographical Society (1 April 1963), "HOBART'S CAT AND FIDDLE SQUARE (1 April 1963)", Walkabout, Australian National Travel Association, 29 (4), ISSN 0043-0064
  31. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/2292/
  32. "Item 13: Heather George. Walkabout magazine: Northern Territory published photographs of Aboriginal Australians (traditional & modern life). CALL NUMBER PXA 907 Box 106". archival.sl.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
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