National Museum gets into furniture
A small side table made in Britain from Australian timbers in the 1790s was sold by Bonhams & Goodman in Sydney on 24 July for $297,000. The auctioneers associated it with the First Fleet settlement, and it went to the National Museum of Australia.

Stokes gives VC to War Memorial
Bonhams & Goodman sold a Gallipoli VC, which Channel 7's Kerry Stokes bought and generously donated to the Australian War Memorial, saying anyone else would have done it if they too could afford it.

Joan Kerr's Dictionary of Australian Artists goes online
The Dictionary of Australian Artists Online seeks to contact persons who contributed to the following works edited by the late Dr Joan Kerr:

The Dictionary of Australian Artists Online (DAAO) is currently preparing articles from The Dictionary of Australian Artists: Painters, Sketchers and Engravers to 1870, Heritage: the National Women’s Art Book and other biographical works for online publication.
With ongoing support from the community, the DAAO plans  to add material that extends the foundation content and add new material from major datasets. The drive is to continually publish new entries based on current art scholarship; and link to the digital resources and services of existing archives and major cultural institutions.

The Dictionary project is supported by the Australian Research Council and led by the University of NSW. Contributors please contact Robert Keigthley, 02 9385 8256 or at daao@unsw.edu.au

US gift of Sydney punch bowl A US Congressman has part-donated a Chinese punch bowl with an early (c. 1815) view of Sydney to the National Maritime Museum. The $330,000 gift, organised by curator Paul Hundley, will allow comparison with the other example of Chinese porcelain with a view of Sydney, a punch bowl in the Mitchell Library.

Remued Pottery website
Enthusiast Peter Watson is setting up a new website aiming at a comprehensive catalogue of shapes and shape number for the Melbourne pottery that made Remued, Pamela and PPP pottery from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Most pieces were produced in a series of standard, numbered shapes and the new website shows the results of Peter's compiling a catalogue. Collectors are invited to help him fill in gaps in the catalogue.

ADB on line
An on-line version of the Australian Dictionary of Biography is available through the ANU website.

National Library acquires First Fleet artworks
The National  Library has bought, for a price reputed to be over a million pounds, a collection of 56 drawings attributed to the First Fleet artist George Raper. These were to be offered by English provincial auctioneer, Dreweatt Neate Fine Art, but sold by private treaty before the sale and thus kept together. Some were on show in the Library's Treasures exhibition. An article about them appears in the August 2006 edition of The World of Antiques and Art

NSW

Three Marrickville potteries
Marrickville Heritage Society has launched its new publication on Three Potteries of Marrickville - Fowler, Diana and Studio Anna. It is reviewed in May Australiana, and available for $27 including postage from the Marrickville Heritage Society, Box 415, Marrickville NSW 1475.

The People's Potteries
Dorothy Johnston's book, The People's Potteries: Stories of the art potteries of Sydney - post WWII, features 24 post-war potteries, mostly from Sydney's inner west, such as Studio Anna, Casey, MCP, Diana, Pates, Grace Seccombe, Brownie Downing, Florenz and Martin Boyd. The 216 page hardcover, with many colour and black and white photographs, is available from the author for $110 plus $10 p&p from Box 175, Cooranbong NSW 2265.

QUEENSLAND

Ipswich Gallery
Ipswich Art Gallery is seeking to expand its collection of locally made decorative arts, particularly furniture made by Gorge Dowden and pottery, photography, painting and folk art. Geoff Ford's catalogue of Ipswich pottery is alsoavailable from the Ipswich Art Gallery .

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TASMANIA

VICTORIA

F E Cox exhibition at Shepparton
Shepparton had an exhibition on the Victorian potter F E Cox in 2007. The catalogue is available at $12.

Premier Pottery Preston
Jacki Healy from Bundoora Homestead mounted a travelling exhibition on Premier Pottery Preston, maker of Remued pottery. An excellent illustrated catalogue is available for just $20 including postage from Bundoora Homestead. Make out cheques to Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, 7-27 Snake Gully Drive, Bundoora Vic 3083.  Or you can call 03 9466 9628 or email bundoora@bigpond.net.au