Meet some famous creative Australians through Hazel de Berg
D in Bendigo has sent me a link to the National Library of Australia which is offering fascinating online interviews from the Hazel de Berg collection with some famous Australians as shown below.
Click on the image caption to hear an audio interview with Max Dupain, Margaret Olley, Harry Seidler and Sidney Nolan.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MAX DUPAIN Sunbaker 1937 1
Hazel de Berg with Dame Mary Gilmore 5
Hazel de Berg (1913–1984) was the daughter of the Reverend George Holland, a Methodist minister and missionary. Born in Deniliquin, New South Wales, she spent most of her childhood in a series of country parsonages. She finished her schooling at the Methodist Ladies’ College in Sydney. She trained as a photographer at Paramount Studios and later worked in the studio of Noel Rubie. In 1941 she married Woolf de Berg, a Polish-born company director. She lived in Sydney for the rest of her life.
In the 1950s, as her three children grew older, de Berg took on new activities, such as studying radiography and Indonesian. In 1957 she first used a tape recorder when she undertook voluntary work for the Talking Book Service for the Blind. She persuaded Dame Mary Gilmore to make some introductory comments about her book Old Days, Old Ways, and this brief recording marked the beginning of her remarkable career as a recorder of life histories.5
Read more about this remarkable woman by clicking here.
And a very warm welcome to our latest subscriber in E.C in Melbourne. We are delighted to have you come aboard and join our journey in the world of art.
Credits
1. maxdupain.com.au
2. qagoma.qld.gov.au/
3. iview.abc.net.au
4. artsearch.nga.gov.au
5. nla.gov.au