The Collectors
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Friday 13 October 2006
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Federation refers to the period between 1901 and 1920 when the separate Australian colonies joined to become one country. Adrian explains how changing social attitudes influenced changes in architecture and the decorative arts.
Australians started to observe and appreciate their own landscape and climate and the result was the first distinctive Australian style of house, which more naturally suited our lifestyle. Federation style houses showed a strong departure from the crowded Victorian terrace and its formal layout and heavy ornamentation. New designs had more spacious living space indoors as well as outdoors, and the verandah was one of the significant features adopted at this time. It has become a typical symbol of Australian housing.
The Arts & Crafts movement in England and Art Nouveau of Europe also had an influence on the extensive use of woodwork on walls and in archways. Distinctive layerings of rendered cement, red brickwork, stucco, timber fretwork or terracotta were trademark materials used in Federation style houses.
In the search for an Australian identity, gum leaves, native flowers and iconic native animals were featured in many aspects of the decorative arts on pottery, jewellery, woodwork and metalwork as well as in print. These motifs were also used in beautiful stained glass window designs, which are prized features of Federation houses.
