AustLit

'State Library Victoria purchased the painting Evening by Clarice Beckett at the end of 2022, adding to the Library’s collection of significant female Victorian artists. The purchase was generously supported by the Vera Moore Foundation. The painting depicts Beach Road in Beaumaris, a block from the Beckett family home, St Enoch’s, located on the south-eastern corner of Dalgety Road and Tramway Parade.' (Introduction)

'The sun is high in the sky. It’s voting day on the Castlemaine goldfields, and people are out and about in the January heat. Many are making their way to the Town Hall to elect their councillors for 1856. From a distance, two women stand out in the crowd. One of them is later described in the Mount Alexander Mail as a ‘coloured lady attired in very bright blue silk with artificial flowers’. Colourful dresses are an uncommon sight in Castlemaine, unless the wearer is Fanny Finch.' (Introduction) 

'In the winter of 2019, I took a week away from my role at State Library Victoria to work on an article about a fascinating manuscript in the collection of the University of Sydney. I removed to a remote house in the country so I could focus on writing without distractions. One day I received an email which was the happiest possible distraction: news that I had been awarded the Harold Wright Scholarship and the Sarah & William Holmes Scholarship in their 50th anniversary year and, with them, the opportunity to study in the prints collection of the British Museum in London.' (Introduction)