The Australian Digger in Stained Glass

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Anglican, Australian Digger, Ballarat, Barkly Street, Canberra, First World War, Frank Warner, Ipswich Q, Mervyn Napier Waller, Methodist, Queensland, University of Melbourne, Victoria, William Bustard

Soon after the first deaths on the battlefields of France and Belgium in 1914, families sought ways to ensure that their sons, husbands and fathers would be honoured and remembered. The ‘commemoration movement’ began as communities organised honour rolls, avenues of trees, arches, obelisks and stone soldiers in parks, crossroads and town centres, where  ‘their name liveth for evermore’.[1]

Although less visible than public monuments, hundreds of stained glass memorial windows were quietly installed by grieving families to honour their lost loved ones, mostly in churches and  chapels, in the decades that followed the First World War.

The most widespread subjects for memorial windows were saints and martyrs of the church, particularly St Alban, proto-martyr of the British Church, and Warrior Saints, St Michael and St George.  As this war was fought under the banner of God, King and Empire, it is not surprising that St George, with a long and illustrious history as patron saint of England and the Order of the Garter and, from the late nineteenth century, as a symbol of British Imperialism, was most popular of all.  After 1914, he symbolised the contemporary fighter for a just cause, chivalrous protector of the weak, and was generally depicted with the slain dragon at his feet, a powerful symbol of defeat over the enemy.

In the immediate post-war years, the figure of the Australian soldier was not seen in stained glass, but the gradual secularisation of Australian society that began during the war extended, somewhat unexpectedly, into the church. Not only was the image of the ‘digger’ accepted as a subject for stained glass, but also the Australian Military Forces badge, rifles and other symbols of war were additions to religious and secular windows throughout the 1920s and beyond.

Ipswich Soldier’s Memorial Hall, Qld

With due ceremony, General Sir William Birdwood laid the foundation stone of the Ipswich Soldiers’ Memorial Hall on 4 May 1920 and the grand three-storey building was officially opened on 26 November of the following year by the Governor of Queensland, Sir Matthew Nathan.[2]

Ipswich Soldiers’ Memorial Hall, Nicholas Street, Ipswich built in 1920-21 on the site of the old pump yard in Nicholas Park.  Photograph: Darling Downs Gazette, 30 November 1921.

The interior was quite splendid with offices, a library, recreation rooms and other amenities, built around a lofty galleried-hall that was naturally lit through the glass-domed roof.  A marble ‘In Memoriam’ tablet inscribed with 153 names was accompanied by two silky oak honour boards holding the names of a thousand or more Ipswich men who served their King and Country.[3]  But when the Hall opened in 1921 there was no stained-glass memorial window.[4]  It was not unveiled until November 1922 when the Governor travelled to Ipswich once again to perform the ceremony of removing the Union Jack from its face ‘in the presence of a large number of relatives of deceased soldiers and friends’.[5]

Caption: William Bustard/RS Exton and Company Limited, Ipswich Soldiers’ Memorial stained glass window, 1922.

Once unveiled, the hemispherical window revealed a most unusual tableau, as described in the Queensland Times the following day.

The central feature of the design is a figure of St. Michael, representing the Angel of Victory, with outspread wings embracing four soldier figures, representing the 9^th, 15^th and 26^th Battalions and 5^th Light Horse. He is shown standing on a globe representing the earth, with the crushed German Eagle lying at the base and in his hands he is holding a sheathed sword and the Palm of Victory. The field of Flanders is shown in the background, with scarlet poppies and crosses while a band of cherubs forms a valuable line in the design. The whole is encompassed in a border of grape vine, symbolising life. A valuable feature of the colouring is the richness of the ruby robe of St Michael, which comprises the use of four varieties of antique ruby [glass], and the beautiful blending of colours in the wings ranging from rich blues to green, brown and yellows…[6]

The window came from the firm RS Exton and Company Limited, Brisbane and was designed by artist, William Bustard (1894-1973) under the supervision of Charles H Lancaster (1886-1959), also an artist and head of the stained-glass department. It must have been one of Bustard’s earliest designs for the firm as he had only arrived in Australia from England in 1921, choosing to emigrate after a stint in the (British Army) Royal Medical Corps during the First World War where he served in Greece and Italy. Bustard showed his ability to use coloured glass to great effect, setting the figure of St Michael ablaze as noted in the press release, which created a dynamic contrast to the sombre khaki of the quiet soldiers. The multiple shades of brown ensured that even these uniforms do not appear drab while signalling the solemnity of the scene. The soldiers’ units can be identified from their dress, various trappings and colour patches set high on the arms of the uniforms. To border his design, Bustard used a wide grapevine device, a decorative symbol of Christ’s sacrifice and a new introduction to Australian stained glass, although he would have been aware of its use as a secular emblem from European design journals.[7]

Funds for such a dramatic addition to the Soldiers’ Memorial Hall were raised by a dedicated group of women, the Ipswich Train Tea Society, led by its President, Mrs Elizabeth Cameron. Throughout the war and during the period afterwards when the men were repatriated home, the small band of Ipswich women met every troop train, no matter what time it arrived, offering free refreshments to the estimated 60 000 men who came and went through Ipswich. [8] No public appeals were made throughout the war but later they assisted the Hall building fund by organising numerous events, and afterwards ‘patriotic entertainments’ to raise enough money for the commemorative window.  Their role is recognised by a plaque that reads:

‘This window is erected by the Ipswich Train Tea Society and all the little children who helped them. In grateful memory of the men who gave their lives to keep our Empire, liberty and homes inviolate. Ipswich, 30 November 1922.’

Although the window was in a secular setting, it had an obvious religious connection through the decorative border, the band of cherubim and primary focus on St Michael. The Archangel was accepted as a warrior saint in different faiths – adopted by Christianity from the Jewish faith where he is seen as their guardian angel. He is also represented as the weigher of souls, measuring good and evil at the Last Judgement.

Melbourne Teachers’ College, Vic.

No such religious connotations can be made with a second secular stained-glass window, which was installed in the Lecture Hall of the Melbourne Teacher’s College (now the 1988 Building, University of Melbourne) in 1920. Here, the robust figure of the Australian digger fills the opening of the central of three windows, thrusting his rifle as if preparing to go forward into battle. Behind him a voluminous Australian flag billows out, although at first glance it seems to be the Union Jack until one realises that stars of the Southern Cross appear at either side of the figure. The round head of the window was filled with a pared-back version of the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces badge, giving the digger the appearance of a secular saint. The outer lights of the window served as an Honour Roll, in which the 39 men who paid the Supreme Sacrifice were identified in a separate roll, as well as the 190 who enlisted and returned.[9]

  William Wheildon/George Dancey for Brooks, Robinson & Co., Lecture Hall, Melbourne Teachers’ College, now the 1888 Building, University of Melbourne, 1920.

The commission was carried out by the prominent Melbourne firm, Brooks, Robinson & Co and placed in the capable hands of William Wheildon (1873-1941), head of the stained-glass department.

At first he thought the central figure should be more symbolic – a medieval knight, a Roman soldier, a figure representing courage – but in the end he confessed there was no reason why an Australian soldier could not express all the ideas suggested.[10]

The larger-than-life figure was drawn up by George Henry Dancey (1865-1922). It is not known who proposed the unusual (if not at that time, radical) idea for the very human Australian soldier instead of a symbolic or traditional figure but possibly it was Dr Smythe, head of the College, who was fiercely proud of all the teachers who enlisted. Throughout the war years he kept current students aware of the men’s experiences and wrote regularly to his former charges. At the unveiling ceremony in September 1920, he noted that the first soldier-teacher died on 27 April 1915 and the last was killed in action in the final engagement of the war, at Montbrehain on the Hindenburg line on 5 October 1918.[11]

The window was only one part of the Teachers’ College memorial and at either side of it a large tablet pictured small identified images of each man and the two nurses who enlisted, each painted on a vitreous tile about the size of a carte de visite.[12] Individually painted from photographs by freelance artist, Vincent Brun for Brooks, Robinson, the tiles were then kiln-fired to make the image permanent before they were cemented together like a mosaic in a process known as Opus Sectile.

Sometime in the 1970s, when the old Lecture Hall was converted into the Gryphon Gallery, the tablets were relocated elsewhere in the building and the window boarded up. It was indicative of a lack of interest in a far-distant war fought five decades earlier that no outcry accompanied these changes. At Ipswich, a comparable lack of interest in commemoration saw the removal of the memorial but it was not hidden. Instead it was installed in a light box inside the building, powered by fluorescent tubes that created vertical green stripes of light (if and when all tubes were working).

Fortunately, the importance and value of these significant memorials has been reconsidered and recognised and both have been brought into the light again; the shuttering is long gone at Melbourne Teacher’s College and the Ipswich window once again graces the façade of the Soldiers’ Hall where its colour and  meaning can be fully appreciated.[13]

Methodist Church, Ballarat, Vic.

The first known ‘Digger’ window to be erected in any Australian church was for a Methodist Church, Ballarat, a three-light window that filled the openings above the gallery and facing Barkly Street.

Barkly Street Methodist Church, Ballarat, c1910.  Ten years later the war memorial window would be inserted into the three lights facing the street.

In March 1920, the Ballarat Star reported the unveiling ceremony in detail and noted that ‘the windows are said to be unique of their kind in Victoria, if not Australia’.

The central light of the three holds the figure of the Australian digger, his bare head bowed over a mate’s fresh grave, marked by a makeshift cross, broken sword and wheel that symbolise his earthly war is over and a life eternal awaits him. Behind the soldier the battle continues to rage in almost darkness amid blackened forest remnants and bursting gun fire. The three lights together tell the story of all 24 men of the congregation who died in war: the trumpets in the left hand light represent the “Call to Arms’, the grave scene represents ‘Sacrifice’ and the dove in the right hand light symbolises ‘Peace’.

Caption: Frank Warner/Fisher & Co Pty Ltd, War Memorial, Barkly Street Methodist Church, Ballarat, 1920.

To commit to such a large and expensive memorial was a huge undertaking, but in 1919 the Barkly Street Young Men’s Club took on the task and asked leave to raise funds to pay for the project.[14] (It is worth mentioning that the cost, which included transport, installation and the wire protective screens, cost 171 pounds.  It today’s terms this is likely to be around $60,000!)

The commission was undertaken by the small Melbourne firm, Fisher & Co Pty Ltd of Watson’s Place, a business set up by Auguste Fischer (1860-1916), an English artist who came to Australia in the 1880s.[15] Anti-German feeling increased during the war and the name of the firm changed, possibly around the time of Fischer’s unexpected death in 1916. Although the business was purchased by Brooks, Robinson & Co, Fischer’s draughtsman Frank Warner is believed to have continued to operate the studio for some years and to have been the designer of the Barkly Street war memorial.

From this time onwards the Australian soldier appeared in stained glass commemorative windows in most Protestant denominations.[16] Among the churches were St George’s Presbyterian, Geelong (1921), St George’s Anglican, Malvern (1926), St James’ Anglican, Heyfield (1921) all in Victoria; St John’s Anglican, Buckland Tas (1921); St James’s Anglican, Toowoomba Qld (1922); and St Mark’s Anglican, Nyngan NSW (1926). These later installations differ in every way from the Barkly Street soldier pictured grieving at the loss of a comrade and validates the Ballarat Star’s claim to the Barkly Street window’s ‘uniqueness’. It remains as the sole example of a digger in a Methodist church window.

Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT.

The last great secular space to include the digger in stained glass was Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. The scheme of three, five light windows evolved over years, with the Second World War intervening before the fourteen representations of the Australian serviceman and one nurse of the First World War were finally unveiled in the 1950s.[17] Considered to be a masterpiece by Melbourne artist Mervyn Napier Waller, these larger-than-life figures combine secular subjects with Christian symbols, similarly to Bustard at Ipswich.  Waller has woven a complex tapestry that combines the qualities of the fighting man, the First World War uniforms and equipment that symbolised their roles and skills within military forces with emblems of Australia, the Aurora Australis, the Southern Cross and the AIF Badge. Together they embody the Australian digger in stained glass.

Mervyn Napier Waller, detail, Hall of Memory, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT.

Anzac Day 2020

Australia, along with the rest of the world, is fighting a different battle to that faced in 1914, a microscopic organism instead vast armies and hideous weaponry. So, instead of coming together at Dawn Services here and overseas, marching in the streets to the drums of masses bands, or visiting a Shrine or Cenotaph to lay a wreath, we will remember in different and separate ways.  We may be apart but, as always, – we will remember them.

Dawn, Mount Eliza, Victoria, 25 April 2020

 

[1] These words from Ecclesiastes 44:14 were selected to be inscribed in stone at all Commonwealth War Grave Cemeteries from 1915.

[2] Darling Downs Gazette, 30 November 1921, p. 7; Table Talk, 8 February 1923, p. 25.

[3] Darling Downs Gazette, 30 November 1921, p. 7.

[4] Reports at the time of opening in 1921 gave a figure of ‘nearly’ 1000 servicemen, but later reports indicate it had climbed to ‘a thousand or so’.

[5] Queensland Times, 1 December 1922, p. 4.

[6] Queensland Times, 1 December 1922, p. 4.

[7] Corner and Border Designs 1900, Pepin van Rooger, Amsterdam, 1900.

[8] Queensland Times, 19 August 1922, p. 10.

[9] Herald, 14 October 1919, p. 13.

[10] The Trainee, Vol VIV No 5, October 1920, pp. 8-9. Thanks to Bart Ziino and Jay Miller.

[11] Lieutenant John Foster Gear, 24 Battalion, KIA, 5 October 1918, had been awarded the Military Cross only one month earlier ‘for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in charge of the brigade sniping section during an attack…’. NAA: B2455, Gear JF. The Australians were retired the following day and did not enter the front line again before the Armistice signing on 11 November 1918.

[12] It is highly likely that Brun painted the images of the soldiers and nurses from Algernon Drage’s photographs taken shortly after enlistment, of which 19 000 are now held in the Australian War Memorial collection.

[13] Brenton Waters, 9 November 2017. http://www.ipswichfirst.com.au/story-behind-ipswich-rsl-sub-branchs-memorial-window/

[14] Barkly Street Methodist Church archives, courtesy of Mr Lindsay Harley.

[15] He trained in stained glass in Warwickshire before working in London and travelled in Europe and America. National Archives of Australia MP 16/1/0, File No. 1914/3/521.

[16] The Catholic Church, which had a precedent for saints and biblical subjects maintained that practice.

[17] See Susan Kellett, ‘Truth and love: the windows of the Australian War Memorial’, Journal of Australian Studies, Vol 39, No 2, 2015, pp. 125-150.

 

Remember Them

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Brooks Robinson & Co, Broughton, Faithful Unto Death, First World War, Victoria

An ANZAC Day Tribute

The small First World War Memorial window at Broughton (Vic) may seem insignificant, hardly a worthy representative of the many hundreds of stained-glass commemorative windows for publication on Anzac Day 2018.   True, it is not especially dramatic or eye-catching, simply a list of five men who did not come home, but it embodies the service and sacrifice of one country district and stands as a significant reminder of war’s impact and aftermath on rural Australia.[1]

Fig. 1: Brooks, Robinson & Co. (attributed), Faithful Unto Death, Memorial to five local men who died in the First World War, Methodist Church, Broughton (Vic).  Photograph: Bronwyn Hughes

The window was installed in the tiny Methodist Church at Broughton, a district in north-east Victoria, about 30 miles north of Nhill and Kaniva, close to the Big Desert country further north again.  No longer used for services, Broughton’s only church sat abandoned at a crossroads with the telephone exchange and community hall on adjacent corners and little else to catch the eye of anyone passing by the paddocks and long fence lines in every direction.

Fig. 2: Former Methodist Church, Broughton (Vic).  Photograph: Bronwyn Hughes

From the road outside the church, the window was barely noticeable in the gable above the entrance porch and even after entering the church, it was not immediately visible; only after turning and raising one’s eyes does this small window become the primary focus of the small space.   Its symbols are those seen in many memorial windows, honour rolls and town monuments: the crossed flags of Australia and Britain, the text ‘Faithful Unto Death’ and the badge of the Australian Military Forces indicating that these men were all soldiers, serving God, King and Empire.  At the heart of the memorial, the names of the dead are painted on a simple rectangular panel: ‘S.P. Allen. T. Dickinson. A.R. Dickinson. L.R. Etherton. C.J. Williams’.  Each name represents a loss for each family, and with profound impact on the wider community.

Fig. 3: Exterior view of Faithful Unto Death, former Methodist Church, Broughton, (Vic).  Note makeshift repairs, buckling and distortion of the panel and frame.  Photograph: Bronwyn Hughes

At the outbreak of war in August 1914, Broughton and the surrounding towns and district immediately signalled its patriotic credentials and throughout the war fundraising events, such as bazaars, concerts, processions and working bees were supported by the community in aid of the Schools Patriotic Fund, Red Cross and Caulfield Military Hospital, among others.  With most young men fully employed running farming enterprises, it is not surprising that recruitment in the district was relatively slow at first and only three young men enlisted in those first months.

Fig. 4: Names of the fallen, Faithful Unto Death, former Methodist Church, Broughton (Vic).         Photograph: Bronwyn Hughes

One early recruit was 25-year-old farmer, Thomas Dickinson, the second son of Lowan Shire Councillor Richard and Mrs Dickinson of Boyeo (just down the road from Broughton).  Tom, a popular young man according to the local press, enlisted on 29 September 1914 to become a trooper in the 9^th Light Horse.[2]  After training in Egypt the regiment was sent to Gallipoli, without their horses, landing in May 1915.   Held in reserve in the disastrous attack on the Nek, the regiment was at the forefront of fighting in the attack on Hill 60 in August. Tom, promoted to Lance-Corporal only the previous month, was killed in action on 28 August 1919 when he was shot in the spine.  He was one of the hundreds killed or wounded over three days of fighting, for no territorial advance.

Breaking this terrible news to the family was the unenviable task of Reverend Sidney G Davis of St George’s Church of England, Nhill who rode to ‘Rosedale’, the Dickinson property.[3]

When the Broughton school unveiled its Honour Roll on Anzac Day 1917, Lance-Corporal Thomas Dickinson’s name was first of the dozen already inscribed.  Despite personal loss, (three nephews were also among the casualties), Cr Dickinson chaired many district events in support of the war effort and was a prominent speaker in favour of the ‘Yes’ vote’ in the conscription referenda.

However, news of the Gallipoli Campaign (before casualty lists began to grow) spurred many others to ‘join the colours’, and by mid-1915, 110 men from Nhill and surrounding districts were among them.[4]  On 26 July 1915, 32-year old farmer Stephen Percy Allen enlisted in 8th Battalion AIF.[5]  He was one of four sons of Frederick Allen, who had selected land near Broughton in 1883 and was reputed to be one of the finest stock breeders in the Wimmera.[6] Too late for the Gallipoli campaign, Stephen went to France and soon after was in hospital with mumps, along with many of his old Broughton friends and comrades in his unit and later the same year, he was wounded in the right shoulder.[7]  Just as the war was turning in the Allies favour with the Battle of Amiens, Stephen was reported ‘wounded and missing’; this was later amended to ‘killed in action’.[8]

22-year old farmer, Charles John Williams, son of Daisy and Arthur Williams of Sandsmere, enlisted on the same day as Stephen Allen and was also one of the 8^th Battalion.[9]  It seems possible that, despite the difference in their ages, the two were friends. Not surprisingly, he too contracted mumps in France; and he was wounded on 26 July 1916, two days after Stephen.  On his return to the unit, he transferred to the 2^nd Light Trench Mortar Battery and worked in a team of three men, generally firing Stokes mortars.  On 10 February 1917, Charlie received another gun shot wound which proved fatal.   His commanding officer, Captain James D Johnstone wrote to Mr and Mrs Williams a few days later.

…Your son had been for some months in the battery… and from the very first was known and respected by every man in the battery as “pure white”.  On the night of the 10^th we were undertaking some operation against the German trenches, and Charlie was one of these, with his corporal (Brennard) and his chum Wiffen, from Drysdale, manning one of the mortars in the attack.  Just after the attack commenced a shell burst in their gun pit, mortally wounding all three.  Charlie, who was the worst hurt of the lot, crawled 20 yds along the trench to seek assistance for his comrades, and refused to be attended to until the others had been dressed.  There is little doubt he knew his chance of recovery was small, and meant to let his comrades have a better chance.  I think it was the bravest thing I have ever known; he gave his life for his friends…there was not a man in the battery but would have given all he had to save Charlie’s life, but he passed away despite effort, cheery to the last… [10]

Captain Johnstone recommended Charlie, unsuccessfully, for the Victoria Cross.

Three farming brothers Herb, Fred and Ben Etherton, sons of Isaac and Elizabeth Etherton joined up in 1915.[11]  After a fourth son, 22-year old Leslie Russell Etherton, enlisted on 25 March 1916, Cr. Dickinson chaired a Farewell Concert at the Broughton Hall in his honour. [12] Leslie was a Private in the 59^th Battalion and probably took part in the now-legendary turn-around at Villers-Bretonneux on 25 April 1918.  He was killed in action on 29 June 1918.

Archibald Richard Dickinson, Tom’s cousin, son of Joseph Brown Dickinson of Condah (although later he moved to Yanac), was a 20-year old farm labourer when he enlisted in the 7^th Battalion of the AIF on 26 March 1916.[13]  Later he went into the 2^nd Machine Gun Company, which was attached to 2^nd Brigade, when he would have been one of three men manning a Vickers machine gun.  He was killed in action in the Battle of Menin Road, Belgium on 21 September 1917.

A Committee of local gentlemen met to arrange Peace Celebrations for Broughton, Peechember, Yanac North and Yanac schools.  Councillor Richard Dickinson took the chair at the service and Mr JH Dickinson organised the procession.  The school children (and their generous families) once again excelled themselves with their annual gift of fresh, canned and cured products to Caulfield Military Hospital.[14]

No details of the window’s commissioning survive but it was almost certainly designed and made by Brooks, Robinson & Co for the Methodist church.  Not all the men who died identified as ‘Methodist’ on their attestation documents: Charlie Williams wrote ‘Church of Christ’ and Leslie Etherton was Church of England.[15] This suggests that the window was seen as a community memorial embracing all those families who lost loved ones whatever their denomination.  The sentiment is echoed in the plaque installed in front of the old church.

Fig. 5: Commemorative plaque, unveiled on Remembrance Day 2007, Broughton (Vic.).     Photograph: Bronwyn Hughes

Since visiting the former Methodist Church in 2014, there have been some changes to the landscape.  The building, which was in a dilapidated condition, has been dismantled and a new CFA Station erected on the site. The window was removed, sandwiched between chipboard to protect it, and is stored on a local property, along with all the salvageable timber from the little building.   The custodian, having taken great care to preserve Broughton’s commemorative window is willing to pass it on to someone or an organisation willing to conserve and house it and ‘who would appreciate it for what it represents’.  It should remain as tribute and testament to the men and their district for another 100 years.

[1] Thanks to Brett Wheaton for access to the former Methodist Church, Broughton and permission to photograph the window.  The Nhill Free Press was published from 1914-1918 but has proved to be a valuable source of information on the community of the Broughton district and families of all the men who went to war.

[2] NAA: B2455, Dickinson T.  His elder brother offered his services but was rejected. Nhill Free Press, 13 July 1915, p. 2.

[3] Nhill Free Press, 27 October 1918, p. 8.

[4] Nhill Free Press, 25 June 1915, p. 2.

[5] NAA: B2455, Allen SP

[6] Horsham Times, 14 April 1933, p. 5.

[7] Herb and Fred Etherton, their cousin Creal Etherton, and Charlie Williams all contracted mumps in France. It was the third most recorded disease among the troops (after trench foot and gonorrhoea).

[8] Stephen Allen’s remains were recovered and buried at Fouquescourt British Cemetery.

[9] NAA: B2455, Williams CJ

[10] Nhill Free Press, 24 April 1917, p. 3.

[11] The eldest Etherton son [William?] was rejected for service, Nhill Free Press, 11 April 1914, p.3.  At least three Etherton families participated in the First World War. David Etherton, another of the local men in 8^th Battalion, was awarded the Military medal for his part in a successful raid on 30 September 1916.

[12] NAA: B2455, Etherton L R; Nhill Free Press, 11 April 1916, p. 3.

[13] NAA: B2455, Dickinson A R

[14] Nhill Free Press, 22 November 1918, p. 3.

The low key career of Frederick Tarrant

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Frederick James Tarrant, New South Wales, Norman St. Clair Carter, Tarrant & Anderson, Tarrant & Co., Victoria

Karla Whitmore

A glass painter and maker of stained glass windows in early twentieth-century Sydney, Frederick James Tarrant was responsible for a larger body of work than is immediately apparent.  He was originally from Melbourne where in the 1890s he was head journeyman painter at Hughes and Rogers of Carlton where he had been apprenticed.  There he formed an ongoing friendship with Norman St. Clair Carter who went on to a successful career in Sydney as a portrait painter and stained glass designer and maker.[1]

Tarrant moved to Sydney where he advertised as Tarrant & Anderson in 1898 at 191 Elizabeth Street, near the Great Synagogue.[2]  In 1898 the firm was reported as making a window at the Presbyterian, now Uniting Church, Waverley and the Catholic Church, Wee Waa. The following year he advertised for apprentice ‘Glass Stainers and Art Painters’ for Tarrant & Co., located at 83 William Street, Sydney.[3]  In 1906 he wrote to the Melbourne-based stained glass artist William Montgomery to say he was doing fairly well but had little glass painting work.[4]

The firm expanded with a move to 24 Taylor Street, Darlinghurst around 1913. Tarrant made windows for Norman Carter, the earliest being two 1917 windows for the Presbyterian, now Uniting Church, Neutral Bay. They commemorate an elder of the church who was a sea captain with lively depictions of Viking ships. The windows are signed designed by Carter and painted by Tarrant.  The east window at Christ Church, Queanbeyan (1923) and two windows at St James’ Church, Pitt Town (1928) were made by Tarrant to Carter’s designs. A window depicting the Good Shepherd was made for the Methodist Church, Young (1921).

Tarrant made a 4-light window for St Stephen’s Church, Willoughby (1911), to a design by J.S. Watkins, a member of the Royal Art Society who ran ‘Wattie’s’ art studio in Sydney. Four depictions of Christ are painted in strong linear style.

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: J.S. Watkins (designer), F.J. Tarrant (glass-painter), Christ (detail), St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Willoughby, N.S.W. 1911

Three lights of a 5-light window at St Michael’s Church, Surry Hills, depicting the Good Shepherd (1918) are signed by Tarrant. The outer two lights were much later 1940 additions which are signed by John Ashwin. Three windows with saints at St John’s Church, Darlinghurst (c.1916) have been attributed to Tarrant by stained glass artist and restorer Kevin Little.  A signed window depicting St George at St George’s Church, Hurstville (1918) is a memorial to soldiers who died in World War I. The rich red, magenta and blue complemented by yellow and bright green make an effective colour scheme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2: F.J. Tarrant, St. George, St. George’s Anglican Church, Hurstville (NSW) 1918

 

 

 

 

The only interstate windows appear to be those designed by art teacher Amalie Field which were made for St Andrew’s Kirk, Ballarat (1921).  More work was done for regional churches in New South Wales.

The largest number of windows by Tarrant are in the Baptist Church, Auburn (1928), including six lancet nave windows, two triple transept windows a triple-light window above the choir gallery depicting the Christ as the Light of the World, the Sower and Reaper as naturalistic figures with a sense of movement and vibrant colours. Tarrant collaborated with the architect and pastor in selecting subjects for the windows which include Hope and Light of the World.  An unusual arched leadlight skylight framing the sanctuary has the same border pattern as other windows around the words ‘I am the vine ye are the branches’.  It has regular and irregular shapes of textured and opalescent glass, a contrast also seen in his painted windows.

Figure 3: F.J. Tarrant, detail of the Sower, Auburn Baptist Church, (NSW) 1928

A striking window was made for historic St Luke’s Church, Liverpool. It was dedicated in 1913 and is signed ‘F. Tarrant Stained glass artist Taylor Street Surry Hills’. The bold design and colour scheme emphasise the richly garbed three-quarter figure of a knight in the foreground being blessed by Christ. The knight has a blue suit of armour with gold trim, garland of leaves and a standard with the flag of St George who is usually depicted in armour with a white tunic and red cross. The figures are set in a landscape with water and distant green and brown mountains.

Figure 4: F.J. Tarrant, St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Liverpool (NSW) 1913

Tarrant’s large-scale work can be seen at All Saints’ Church, Singleton, where he remade Clayton & Bell’s windows from the original church and designed and made an additional two windows (1913). One donated by F.H. Dangar of London is a 5-light window which has Christ holding the banner of Christianity with around thirty figures including apostles, prophets, wise men, crusaders and angels in a sweeping arc below.  Their focus is the Celestial City on a hill to which Christ gestures. An interesting feature of the design is a sole figure in a small boat in the far right panel while the figures occupy the other four panels.

The Masonic Hall in Castlereagh Street, Sydney, was remodelled in 1915 including a dome with masonic symbols in stained glass by F.J. Tarrant.[v] The building was demolished but 24 of the symbols of Masonic office in the border have been remade as a panel in the present Masonic Centre by Kevin Little. The colouring is muted brown on a pale green background.

Figure 5: F.J. Tarrant, Masonic Hall, Sydney (NSW) 1915 (remade in the 1970s)

A stained-glass ceiling survives intact in the former Bank of NSW building, now retail premises, in Pitt Street, Sydney. Opened in 1913 it has a tiled entrance floor by the well-known Melocco Bros. The ceiling ‘was made by W.F. Tarrant (sic)’.[6] The colouring and glass are similar to the skylight at Auburn, though the design is more delicate. The central focal point is the Advance Australia coat of arms, an unofficial one widely used since the nineteenth century up to 1908. This depiction includes an atypical ox in place of a garb of wheat along with the fleece and sailing ship and an anchor in place of a miner’s pick and axe.

Figure 6: F.J. Tarrant, Skylight, former Bank of NSW, Pitt Street, Sydney (NSW) 1913

Figure 6a: F.J. Tarrant, Detail of skylight, former Bank of NSW, Pitt Street, Sydney (NSW) 1913

An art nouveau window was made for the former Presbyterian Church, Katoomba, now a café, in 1914.  It has three rectangular panels, the semicircular topped central one with a motif of a particularly lush burning bush set in art nouveau leadlight designs with opalescent glass and bullseyes. Three similar art nouveau panels are between the interior doors to the former church.

Figure 7: F.J. Tarrant, Burning Bush, former Presbyterian Church, Katoomba (NSW) 1914

Tarrant’s largest church window is the 6-light altar window at Holy Trinity Church, Dulwich Hill (1925) which depicts Christ Feeding the Multitude. The focus is on the five large-scale figures in the four central lights facing inwards while smaller figures in the background represent the multitude.

Bright red, blue and green of garments and landscape are balanced across the design and opalescent glass used for the rocks in the distance adds interest. The composition is framed by bunches of grapes in the tracery above religious symbols and in the lower border. The window is signed Tarrant & Co. Taylor Street. A single lancet window depicting the Baptism of Christ at the rear of the church (1925) is also signed by Tarrant.

Figure 8: F.J. Tarrant, Christ Feeding the Multitude, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Dulwich Hill, N.S.W. 1925

As well as stained glass Tarrant designed and painted a tiled mural behind the altar at St Luke’s chapel, Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street. The mural is signed ‘F. Tarrant, Taylor St Darlinghurst 1913’. It depicts the Good Shepherd rescuing a sheep which has become entangled in a bush. The figure is painted in Tarrant’s strong linear style and the treatment and colouring is reminiscent of nineteenth century religious painting.

Figure 9: F.J. Tarrant, Good Shepherd, Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street, Sydney (NSW) 1913

Tarrant’s firm continued into the 1920s but after a few years he advertised glass counters, mirrors and shelves for sale. Two years later, Tarrant and Co. was declared bankrupt and the firm’s contents auctioned.[7] J.C. Chalmers and J.H. Kirkpatrick were named as partners along with Tarrant, who died in 1929.[8]  His work demonstrates the significance of versatility and collaboration to sustain a 30-year career in Sydney.

[1] Norman Carter, Notes for an Autobiography, p.19, ML MSS 471/5, Mitchell Library, Sydney.

[2] See The Catholic Press throughout 1898 -99, for example, 20 August 1898, p. 12.

[3] Sydney Morning Herald, 28 September 1899, p. 10.

[4] Email from Bronwyn Hughes, 15 November 2016. Correspondence from Herbert Grimbly to Montgomery, 4 October 1906. William Montgomery Collection MS15414 Box 6/3, State Library of Victoria.

[5] Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September 1915, p.4.

[6] Building, vol 6, no 69, 12 May 1913, p.52.

[7] Sydney Morning Herald, 26 July 1928, p.13.

[8] Sydney Morning Herald, 20 April 1929, p. 1