Lecture #2 - Ruth Lane-Poole - A Woman of Influence - Part of 3rd Narratives of Nations Symposium 2022
Speaker: Margaret Betteridge
Title: Ruth Lane Poole - A Woman of Influence
Margaret was introduced to the work of Ruth Lane-Poole in 1986 on taking up her role as Honorary Adviser, Fine Arts and Gifts in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She came to appreciate Ruth's work in the historical context of decorating and furnishing Government House and The Lodge in 1927. In 2021 Margaret curated the exhibition, Ruth Lane-Poole: A Woman of Influence, at Canberra Museum and Gallery which brought together insights into her Irish family connections and her decorating philosophy. For the first time, examples of the furniture, silver and china she commissioned for the official residences in 1926-27 were seen together in the context of her work.
With the Governor-General and the Prime Minister successfully installed in their official residences in Canberra in time for the opening of Federal Parliament on 9 May 1927, the Federal Capital Commission’s ‘Furniture Specialist’, Ruth Lane-Poole, could reflect on the task she had just completed. With great pride, she noted that ‘there is not one piece in the houses made of imported timber.’ No doubt encouraged by her husband, Charles Lane-Poole, the Commonwealth’s senior forester, she chose Australian native timbers to suit the traditional period styles of furniture she considered appropriate for the functional requirements of the houses and their occupants.
Speaker: Margaret Betteridge, Director Betteridge Heritage, freelance heritage and decorative arts consultant
A post-graduate scholar in museum studies at the University of Leicester, Margaret was the founding curator of the Royal Mint and Hyde Park Barracks Museums for Sydney's Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. In 1986 she was appointed to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to manage the collections of contents in the Australian Government's official residences. Since 1994, Margaret has enjoyed the diversity of collections management and curatorial enterprise projects with clients in the public domain working on wide ranging projects across Australia and New Zealand. She has the privilege of on-going work with all tiers of government and with private and public organisations to deliver award-winning results. Her clients include (but not limited to) the NSW Government (Public Works Advisory, Property and Development NSW and Heritage NSW), City of Sydney and Sydney Living Museums. She is passionate about the use of Australian flora and its adaptation as a decorative language in design, art and craft.