Telopea's mystery painting

The origins of the large painting that hangs above the stairwell near the current Arts and Technology departments or what was the boys locker area in 1967 has been a mystery until research by Esther Davies revealed the story.

In January 1950 an Australian Citizenship Convention was convened by the Commonwealth Minister for Immigration, the Hon. Harold Holt. An Arts and Crafts exhibition associated with the convention was held at the Canberra University College then located in the Melbourne Building in Civic. Above the main entrance to the exhibition was a mural completed by the father and son artists Verners (Werner) and Gurt Linde, recent migrants from Latvia. Some time after the Convention this mural was relocated to its present hanging space at the school.

The subject matter and style of the painting reflect that of the socialist realism typical of the Stalin reign in the Soviet Union and used as a form of propaganda in posters to keep people optimistic and encourage greater productive effort. Perhaps it was this ideal that the Lindes hoped to bring to an Australian work ethic or it reflected the art training that Verners Linde gained in St Petersburg around the time of the Russian Revolution.

A photograph of the artists and the painting held in the Pictorial Collection of the National Library show the work with the Coat of Arms of Australia and the badges of the six States below the painting whereas at the school these are mounted above the painting. To facilitate hanging at the school parts of the wooden frame have been cut away. The painting is in need of some restoration work but the school has been unable to secure funding for this purpose.

More information about the life of Verners Linde was supplied by his younger son Dr Werner Linde, a medical practioner from Adelaide, who recently visited the school. Werner Linde is a former well-known basketballer who represented Australia at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Gurt Linde is depicted in the painting holding the Australian flag and Verners is in the blue shirt below him. Artistic licence has shown him with hair as he was bald at the time of the painting. Both Verners and Gurt Linde died in the 1970s.

I have reflected on how many times I would have walked past this painting, up and down the stairs on the way to classes, without giving much attention to it. Now, with the knowledge of its creation and its place in the migrant history of Australia I hope the work can be restored and a suitable information plaque added to its hanging space.

Jim Gillespie

Information for this page has been taken from articles by Esther Davies in Telopea Topics, a fortnightly newsletter produced by Telopea Park School and the Lycée Franco-Australien de Canberra. Esther is a former head of the English and History Department at Telopea Park School and is currently the school's Archivist. She is a past-president of the Canberra and District Historical Society and a member of the History Teachers' Association of Australia.