Brought to Light Australian Art 1850-1965

associated with the rise and progress of the capita] city of Queensland'6 Neither landed gentry nor unreconstructed laissez-faire capitalist, Finney was instrumental in introducing a number of substantial labour reforms, including compulsory six o'clock closing, annual leave and, despite opposition, the inauguration of a Saturday half-day holiday in 1884.7In addition, he held a number of important administrative posts, supported charitable organisations and was active in the colony's sports and leisure pursuits. A firm basis for the view of Finney as a man of vision, business acumen and of resolute character, principled 'no less than for the broad and liberal ideas he entertains and freely expresses',8had been established by the time of the construction of Sidney House in 1882; however, it culminated in his election to the State seat of Toowong in 1896. As historian Ronald Lawson put it, Finney '... appealed to both workers, as a liberal employer, and, as one of the city's leading businessmen, to the property voters and residents of Toowong'.9 The construction of the family residence in 188210and substantial new business premises in the city centre in 1891 represented pinnacles of Thomas Finney's emergent wealth and prestige. Both the private and public side of Finney were lauded in the construction of these two buildings and in the process were inextricably linked to the good fortunes and aspirations of the colony as a whole.1 Important to this process was the suggestion that Finney represented a newly emerging and largely self-made mercantile class. Although it was clear that many of the interests, values and pastimes of this nascent middle class coalesced with those of the incumbent squattocracy and colonial administration, we see in the construction and decoration of these two buildings the complex and, at times, contradictory discourses of late-colonial taste and social relations. The choice of Toowong as the location for the family home is interesting in this respect. Aview of Toowong as a 'fashionable township on the Brisbane River' gained currency in the 1860s and 1870s, with the settlement there of many of Brisbane's leading families. For the well- to-do, it represented both an unspoilt haven free from the tribulations of the city, yet with relative ease of access to it.12 Toowong continued to enjoy a semi-rural aspect; however, by 1880 changes such as the introduction of suburban estates (some with the traditional grid structure), the opening of the City-Ipswich railway line (1875), and the reclassification of Mt Coot-tha from open range to a public park (1880) increasingly opened the area up to a wide cross-section of Brisbane's population. The sale of suburban allotments and small freeholds attracted much interest and the township grew considerably in the period preceding the economic downturn and the great flood of 1893. Against the tide of'small allotment suburbia', it has been suggested that '... Thomas Finney's Sidney House and Richard Gailey's Glen Olive [represented] the final flings of villa society in Toowong'.13 The choice of establishment architect F. D. G. Stanley and the picturesque setting described by I. B. Fewings would seem to confirm these views. However, unlike Glen Olive (described by historian Helen Gregory as a 'fanciful example of Victoriana built in the 1890s') and other contemporary estates, Sidney House did not set out to directly transplant British establishment values into an Australian context. Nor did it represent an indulgence in a flashy show of newwealth.14 In 1891 the Queenslander published a series of essays dedicated to introducing its regional and international readers to 'principal residences in and around Brisbane'. Sidney House is described as '... designed in the Italian domestic style, which is particularly adapted to our environment'. In line with this, mention is made of the orientation of the building towards the river (and away from the street), the inclusion of a verandah and balcony running around the exterior with access through upper floor french windows, its 'roomy grounds' and extensive use of 'trees and shrubs' to shade the house from the westerly sun.15 The sense of features appropriate in aspect and design was continued in the discussion of the interior where notions of spaciousness, flexibility and durability were the critical measure of the building's success. Of particular note in this regardwas the emphasis placed on the attention to detail and the extensive decorative features. In a 1931 feature essay, F. E. Lord recognised the 'fine interior' of this 'handsome and ... spacious house', with its 'beautiful marble mantelpieces, some white, others of brown marble, flecked sparsely with white'.16 Other writers recommended interior features such as the coloured tiles showing Shakespearian and medieval scenes around the fire grates, the entrance which featured 'an interesting cedar screen partition with glass sides' inside the main door, and 'beyond this, a statue of awoman on the lower balustrade of the cedar staircase [which] command[s] attention'17 In the transition towards a demonstrably bourgeois sentiment, which encouraged people who were successful in practical affairs to display expertise in matters of taste, Sidney House was an early confirmation of the discernment and sobriety expected of a middle class that would carry Brisbane into the twentieth century. Sidney House did not project ostentatiousness. It has been subject to the criticisms of R. Twopeny (in his Town Life in Australia, 1883), in which he lamented the lack of taste in otherwise substantial homes.18In Sidney House no expense was spared, attention to detail was obligatory, and solid marble and timber were extensively used rather than the cheaper and newly available stencilling, marbling and wood-graining techniques.19 The notion of decorum extends to the signification of the interior as display — an embryonic art collection in the making. Art historian Margaret Maynard has previously identified an emerging sensibility in the fine art debate and collections in Brisbane during the 1870s and 1880s. She notes the blurred boundaries that existed between the 42 BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Australian Art 1850-1965