MISS PINK'S GAITERS

The Special  Collections  section  of  the  Eddie Koiki  Mabo  Library  at   James  Cook  University, Townsville ,  never ceases  to  surprise  and  delight  one  of   Little Darwin’s   roaming   reporters .   There  the  Special  Collections  Librarian,  Bronwyn McBurnie  ,  recently produced   fascinating  items  of   particular  interest  for  major   stories  which  will  be  posted in  the   future .  In  his  discussion   with   Ms McBurnie ,   mention was  made  of the   late   Miss  Olive  Muriel  Pink  ,  the  anthropologist , of  Alice  Springs , who  figures   in    the   ongoing  biography of  NT  crusading editor,  James   Frederick Bowditch.   The  librarian  drew  his   attention to  the  University of  Tasmania  Library  website  which   lists   a     collection  of   Miss Pink  items ,  she  having  lived  in Tasmania  way back.   It    includes   the    very   gaiters   Miss  Pink  wore   while working  in  her  special native flora  garden  in  Alice , the  numberplate   off   her  old  Chev car- a  "staunch friend,"    her  typewriter  ,  china busts  from  the  Perth  studio  where  she  gave  art   classes,  water colour drawings  of  plants   at  Thompson’s  Rockhole , in Central Australia,  where  she  lived  in  a tent ,  a  photograph  of  her on a  camel.  Also  there  is a  circa  1910  painting  by   her  " greatest  friend "   Captain Harold Southern, killed  at   Gallipoli.

At the head of this  post , from the   Little  Darwin Miss Pink   Collection , are  two  graphics .   On the  left is   a  photograph  of  a   painting   which on   the  back , in Miss Pink’s hand, states    was done by  her  friend , Harold  A.  Southern ,  a   fellow art  student   in  the  modelling  studio at the  Hobart Technical School, about 1909. Her  information includes the  fact  that  the  principal ,  Benjamin  Sheppard ,  a  London trained artist ,  was  Harold’s uncle ,who   had sculpted   the Boer War Memorial in the Hobart Domain , modelled in  the  same  studio.  The  other  illustration  is  of   pencil rubbings from  Captain  Southern’s  1914  wallet ,on which was his name , address-Guildford, W.Australia-  and details  of  the  battalion  to which he was attached . He was  killed at Pope’s Hill in 1915.  The  wallet  may  have  been  in  his  possessions  sent  home from the  battlefront .