A quiet word from the List Mistress - the beginning of the collection

The Library, Carrick Hill, Adelaide, photo Mick Bradley

Documentation of the Carrick Hill collection has finally entered the 21^st century with the recent installation of the MOSAIC Collection Management System that will allow us to electronically catalogue and digitise the collection.  On the 31 January 3837 records were uploaded into the database, these records currently contain minimal information but they give us base records that will be improved with information from the old hand-written catalogue worksheets and research files.  At this stage, the project is being run by just one person on a part-time basis but in the first month two weeks over 800 records have been edited and in a few months, a group of trained volunteers will be ready to assist project by entering enhanced research information and digitised images.  Our goal is to have a 100 of our most significant objects fully documented and added to the Carrick Hill website by early 2013.

For the first time the large personal library of books that were owned by Sir Edward and Lady Ursula Hayward will be included in the new centralised database.  This will allow us to directly link the books to the paintings and sculptures that form the core of the Carrick Hill collection.  These books provide a window into the private life of the Hayward’s and include a range of first editions and popular novels; there are the expected gardening, farming, sporting and business books plus a significant number of art, design and architecture reference books that informed the Hayward’s interests and collecting tastes.    

Two of the eight Jacob Epstein bronzes from the collection with some of the many art books owned by Lady Ursula Hayward.  Collection Carrick Hill Trust, Adelaide, Hayward Bequest

The 'List Mistress' Caroline Berlyn

My Most Interesting Item - Order of the Thistle

My most interesting item: Richard Heathcote 'The Keeper'

Order of the Thistle – carved in wood

This coat of arms carved in wood and painted black, hangs over the doorway at the end of the servants passage.  The Order of the Thistle is the highest Scottish honour usually awarded to heads of state and appointed solely at the prerogative of the reigning monarch.  Only one Australian has ever received it and that was Bob Menzies, Australia’s longest serving Prime minister from 1949-1966.

Why on earth is this large object hanging at Carrick Hill?  It is somewhat of a mystery which is I suppose why I like it.  Its motto Nemo-me Impune Lacessit (Latin for ‘No one provokes me with impunity’) is another reason why I like.  It says: don’t pick a fight with me or you’ll pay for it.

Both Ursula Hayward’s (nee Barr Smith) father and Scottish grandfather were offered knighthoods and declined them.  Her father said he had done nothing to earn it and therefore it was against his principles to accept the honour.  On the other hand Bill Hayward, Ursula’s husband, accepted an English honour of Knight Batchelor (CBE) in 1961 for his philanthropic work (St John’s Ambulance Service & creating the Christmas Pageant for the enjoyment of Adelaide families).  Ursula when asked how it felt to be Lady Hayward said it was: ‘worse than having the measles!’

The item is a consummate piece of carving but more importantly for me it represents the two attitudes in one house towards honours and rewards for service etc.  However; both Ursula and Bill were united by their patriotism and support for the British monarchy. Such facts are what I find interesting about the arms of the Thistle with its two rampant unicorns standing on top of the plant symbol for Scotland which is at the same time a weed in our gardens!  It is my most interesting object in the house and a symbol that most visitors would barely give a glance towards as they walk along the servant’s corridor to the café .

What's in a Ton?

The Carrick Hill collection and the Ton of Stuff project.

Australians love to collect stuff and they also like hearing about collecting as the popularity of the ABC TV Collectors program tells us.  Museums take the approach a bit further than private collectors as they hold collections in trust for the public and have to operate under certain rules and a code of ethics. 


When the museum is a historic house and the stuff has all belonged to small number of people that lived at the place, the story for me grows more interesting.  Our stuff at Carrick Hill belonged to Ursula and Bill Hayward from 1935 to 1970, and in that 35 years the main body of their collecting was done - then sadly Ursula died.  But before she died they both agreed that the collection should be kept together and that after his death it should all be given to us - the people of South Australia.


This is why I chose to work in house museums and revel in what the objects in the house can do to bring the stories of those who lived and worked in the place alive.  Whether its a chipped cup the cook used for her morning tea or the little black french dress that madam wore to her cocktail parties (Yes! Ursula Hayward was dressed by Dior and its in the collection!) - the objects hold the mysteries and reveal all kinds of information about time, place, people and their style. The other wonderful aspect of working in house museums is that they have nooks and crannies where things get lost, and then years or decades later come to light. 

So every month we are going to ask you a collection related question as part of a poll - as we are keen to find out about what you collect, why and what you think of our collection here.  And should you happen to visit us here at Carrick Hill, there will be an opportunity for you to let us know what you would choose to put in our 100 Most Interesting Items - which could appear here on the blog...so keep watch!

My name is Richard Heathcote  and I am known as the Keeper - the old fashioned name for the role of looking after the physical and intellectual material that comprises the items in a collection whether its a chipped tea cup, a Gauguin fan painting or a Dior by dress.

We have some wonderful stories to share with you over the next fifty weeks of the journey to discover the most interesting one hundred objects in the Carrick Hill collection - the Ton of Stuff.

A Ton of Stuff

goes live on the 22^nd February