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Rings of history: Contemporary craft from historical timbers

Collection of a collection

Portrait of Eric Dadswell

The artworks represented in the following pages investigate the history of taxonomy, the fascination for systems of nomenclature, taming the unknown with words, cabinets of curiosity.

Eric Dadswell (pictured on the right) was a driving force in the development of the extensive timber collection that now bears his name. In the 1930s Dadswell worked with a team of assistants to systematically collect and document eucalypt varieties from all over Australia.

The idea of having a collection of wood may at first seem rather strange, but in fact most countries have at least one such collection. Australia's largest collection is located at the CSIRO Forest Products Laboratory in Melbourne. The rationale for a wood collection is primarily to satisfy the need to correctly identify timber. The practical importance of this was succinctly put by I. H. Boas, the first Chief of CSIRO's Division of Forest Products, 'it is obvious that to develop overseas trade in certain species of our timber it is essential that these should be readily distinguished from other timber superficially similar, but very different in properties'. Nowadays, when commercial trade is mainly restricted to a more limited range of plantation timbers, wood collections (or more correctly 'xylaria') are still essential for solving problems in archaeology, anthropology, forensics/law, wood technology and other applied fields where identified wood specimens are required for examination and identification.

These paragraphs have been taken from the catalogue essay The Dadswell Collection and The Timbers Used for the Rings of History Exhibition by Dr Phil Evans

Fiddlesticks: Scrub oak, yellow siris, rose sheoak, black ebony, chinaman's cedar, beech
  • Graham Kilian, NT
  • Fiddlesticks 2001
  • H200 x Ø40 mm
  • Scrub oak, yellow siris, rose sheoak, black ebony, chinaman's cedar, beech

Timber has often been used for children's toys. Fiddlesticks is a game played by individuals or in groups where the sticks are scattered randomly and collected one by one without moving the other sticks. It is a strategic game of cause and effect. Both the container and the sticks are made from wood turned timber. This nostalgic game of fiddlesticks becomes a display for the collection of rare timbers native to the Northern Territory.

Six Variations on A Tale: Found object, yate, Western Australian blackbutt, gimlet, red morel, red tingle
  • Bo Schmitt, WA
  • Six Variations on A Tale 2000
  • H400 x W360 x D240 mm
  • Found object, yate, Western Australian blackbutt, gimlet, red morel, red tingle

The timber pieces in this work have been kept in the shape of the original billets. Facets of the billets have been sanded exposing the grain and colour of the timber. These surfaces have been inscribed with fragments of text from different language groups. These words are a collection of thoughts associated with the longevity of the timber as witness to events in our history.

Obsecratio Paten: Silky oak, coachwood, red turpentine, brushbox, white birch, rosewood, crows ash
  • Ian Guthridge, ACT
  • Obsecratio Paten 2001
  • H40 x Ø153 mm
  • Silky oak, coachwood, red turpentine, brushbox, white birch, rosewood, crows ash

Relics are objects of ceremonial and cultural significance, used in processions and paraded for many to see. The works in this exhibition are in a form of procession as they are exhibited across the country. Ian Guthridge's works are a precious collection of rare ACT timbers made into objects of lasting beauty and significance commemorating the extinct an dying species that have been lost since this country was colonised.

Untitled: Tulip satinwood, Queensland walnut, stainless steel mesh
  • Luis Nheu
  • Untitled 2000
  • H90 x W285 x D1150 mm
  • Tulip satinwood, Queensland walnut, stainless steel mesh.

Fine design and consideration for the contrasting colours of the timber have influenced the design of this container that has been lined with stainless steel mesh. The harmonious combination of these disparate materials evokes a future made stronger by its association to the past.

Cabinet: Brown stringy bark, narrow-leaved ironbark, ping gum, black box, brown-top stringy bark, grey irongum, mugga ironbark, forest red gum
  • Adrian Potter
  • Cabinet 2001
  • H300 x W250 x D100 mm
  • Brown stringy bark, narrow-leaved ironbark, ping gum, black box, brown-top stringy bark, grey irongum, mugga ironbark, forest red gum

This work is a cabinet of curiosity that houses samples of the timbers used for its construction. This taxonomic display is classified with the same language and numerical systems used in the original Dadswell Collection. Adrian Potter's cabinet symbolises our national effort to claim the environment and control its indigenous nature.

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