Edith Ziegler’s passion for history dates back to her childhood, but it was not until she had wrapped up a 30-year corporate and consulting career that she could truly pursue it – at UNE.
After completing an M.Litt. (HD) and PhD in history, Edith embraced a ‘post-career career’ in historical research and writing. She has since published five books, the latest of which tells the remarkable story of little-known Modernist artist Clarice Beckett (1887-1935), known today for her haunting Melbourne scenes.
Where did your long-held interest in history stem from? Why did you choose to pursue postgraduate studies at UNE?
My father was greatly interested in history and I may have inherited his disposition. My undergraduate degree at the University of Sydney included four units of history but when I set out on my corporate career, I had to concentrate on other things. However, history remained a strong interest and a preference for my leisure reading. My primary interest was American history and, when I made my first tentative enquiries to several universities about post-graduate studies, UNE’s response was so warm and keen that I felt it was going to be the ideal institution for further study.
Describe your experiences of studying at UNE.
As I neared retirement, I became more and more certain that not being in the workforce would give me the opportunity to pursue my interest in history in a more structured and disciplined way. The primary supervisor for my Master’s degree was (now) Professor Jennifer Clark, who was hugely supportive and enthusiastic. She introduced me to research methods, historiographical alternatives and new subject matter. My engagement with formal study after 30 years was thrilling and Jennifer’s sustained encouragement kept me motivated. Her support and that of Professor David Kent made me confident that I would be able to go on and do a PhD. When I nervously took the decision to embark on that serious commitment, I could never have imagined how it would lead to the marvellous experience of undertaking primary research in America, where I made permanent friends in the academic world. My mature-age engagement with UNE was actually life-changing.
What is it about historical research that you find so captivating?
History explains our world today — both its past and likely future. I enjoy the process of discovering the past — winkling out material from old newspapers, books, and other material and discovering unexpected connections. I like writing history in a narrative form so that it is of interest and makes sense to general readers. My five books have enjoyed a fair degree of success so I will keep on the same path. I haven’t restricted myself to any specific topic area – one thing generally leads to another and if a subject appeals to me and I think it would be of interest to others, then I go with it.
Dame Quentin Bryce launching Edith Zeigler's book The Worlds and Work of Clarice Beckett at the National Trust's S.H. Ervin Galley.
What was pleasurable about bringing this virtually unknown but highly significant painter and her work to greater public attention?
When I took up the idea, I actually knew very little about Clarice. When I discovered that she’d left no diaries or personal correspondence, I wondered whether it was going to be possible to write her biography. However, my previous research experience allowed me to approach the artist by exploring her family, her education, her social circle, and her milieu—i.e. her ‘worlds’. Beckett’s sense of place is one of the most striking features of her art and thus I felt I had to describe richly the towns and suburbs where she lived and the venues she frequented. I was also able to ‘place’ Beckett’s story in the historical context of late nineteenth/early twentieth century Victoria — e.g. the increasing aspirations for girls’ education; the 1890s depression; the choice of Melbourne as the first parliamentary location following Federation; the theatre and intellectual scene; the impact of World War I; the Great Depression; the ferment caused by Modernism, and so on.
My growing familiarity and even intimacy with Beckett’s world and her interest in things such as Freudian psychology, Theosophy and Spiritualism caused me constantly to reassess each of her paintings. They are deceptively simple but there’s always much going on if one takes the time to consider what that might be. The wonderment is part of the pleasure. I remain mystified as to how she achieved her potent atmospheric effects … in her images of rainy nights, dusky evenings, daybreak. This is the subtle way she used tone and colour to blur or veil the contours of form.
What’s next for Edith Ziegler?
I’m currently researching the inhabitants of a long-demolished mansion in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra called Merioola. During the 1940s it operated as a boarding house for artists and everyone who was anyone in Sydney’s post-war art scene either lived there or was associated with the residents. This gave rise to the inclusive soubriquet ‘The Merioola School’. But the house was initially constructed in 1869 and had already been home to many other illustrious and interesting people over the previous 80 years. The house is giving me a structure for examining the lives and influence of a fascinating succession of people who were significant in various spheres of endeavour in colonial and post-colonial Sydney.
