Pictures 1949
Catalogue / Memoir
Introduction
Pictures
Objects
Animations
PICTURES are both finished and ephemeral works made for animations.
1949---- 1950---- 1951---- 1952---- 1953---- 1954---- 1955---- 1956---- 1957---- 1958---- 1959---- 1960---- 1961---- 1962---- 1963---- 1964---- 1965---- 1966---- 1967---- 1968---- 1969---- 1970---- 1971---- 1972---- 1973---- 1974---- 1975---- 1976---- 1977---- 1978---- 1979---- 1980---- 1981---- 1982---- 1983---- 1984---- 1985---- 1986---- 1987---- 1988---- 1989---- 1990---- 1991---- 1992---- 1993---- 1994---- 1995---- 1996---- 1997---- 1998---- 1999---- 2000---- 2001---- 2002---- 2003---- 2004---- 2005---- 2006---- 2007---- 2008---- 2009---- 2010---- 2011---- 2012---- 2013---- 2014---- 2015---- 2016---- 2017---- 2018---- 2019---- 2020---- 2021---- 2022---- 2023---- 2024---- 2025---- 2026----
I am born on Norfolk Island.
In my dreaming mind I am forever
swimming inside the belly of a whale.
My life begins on Norfolk Island
where my father helps establish communication systems
after world war two and my mother conceives me
as she cares for my big sister Nadya.
In the picture below, the tiny photo (top left) shows Nadya
sitting behind a boy on a rocking horse under an arch of whale bones.
Growing up I heard so much about these bones
that in my dreaming mind I am forever
swimming inside the belly of that whale.
Page 11 of Flying with my Sister (2022)
Picture book. Co-authored with Claire Sives
My mother Jean in the back garden
Collins Head Rd. Norfolk Island
Photo: Noel Roberts, Sept 1948
Norfolk Island Museum collection
My father Noel, at sea
Artist's collection, Sydney
My father's 1949 Norfolk Island QSL card
Norfolk Island Museum collection
Mayday Assylum, Beechworth
Photo: John T Collins
National Library of Australia
Born in Melbourne in 1946, Nadya was a writer, artist, dancer, joker, and the oldest resident of Mayday, the Beechworth Lunatic Asylum. She lived all her adult life as a Ward of the State of Victoria and died in Beechworth Hospital in 2022. Covid was in full swing so my brother and I chose not to have a funeral. Instead I made this picture book to celebrate her life and gave copies of the book to my family and generations of nurses and other people I knew who cared for Nadya.
Watch my reading of the story and download the e-book by clicking on the bird.
2022 Flying with my sister - the video
Words, pictures, animations: Lisa Roberts
Page design: Claire Sives
CLICK on the Bird to download the e-book, Flying with my Sister:
EVENTS
1949 was a turning point in Australia.
Prime Minister Ben Chifley's attempt to nationalise all Australian banks in 1949 stirred several groups to action to ensure that Menzies was elected. Chifley was responding to the banks' role in the1930s depression in colluding with the Bank of England and the National Party to create a collapse of the Scullen Labor govt (1929-31). Powerful groups (banks, the commercial media and other businesses and organisations like the property council) work together when their interests are threatened.
Email from Jesse
Norfolk Island sister
21/04/2026
1949: The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) was established to administer ANARE - the Australian National Antarctic Expeditions program. Soon after being appointed Antarctic Division director in 1949, Dr. Phillip Law saw the need for a recognisable symbol for the fledgling ANARE. His wife, Nel, was an artist and produced the distinctive and enduring circular emblem that Dr Law described as "...a circular badge whose centre is the Antarctic Continent with the Australian sector shaded. Surrounding this is an annular set of designs depicting flora and fauna of Antarctica and the Sub-Antarctic Islands".
Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_National_Antarctic_Research_Expeditions
1949: A.S.I.O., Australia's counter-espionage agency designed to handle international security matters, was established, on March 16.
1949: Work commenced on the Snowy Mountains Scheme to divert the water from the Snowy and Eucumbene rivers inland for irrigation.
Ref. The Australian Almanac, Pub. Angus & Robertson 1985
Sir William Hudson was Chairman of the Snowy Mountain Scheme and an uncle of Andrew Phillip Hallowes Brown, my second husband and father of my daughter Katherine Burgoyne Brown. Sir William Hudson's grandson is Angus Taylor, the current leader of the Liberal Party.
1949: Nationality and Citizenship Act passed, by which Australians became Australian (rather than British) citizens although British passports were retained.
1949: Voting rights granted to Aboriginal servicemen. The Australian Aborigines League (AAL), formed in 1932 by William Cooper, fought to end all discriminatory practices against Aboriginal people in "civic, political and economic" spheres and demanded full citizens "rights". The Australian Government agreed and in 1949 the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 was amended to give the Federal vote to Aboriginal people who were serving, or who had served, in the defense forces.
Ref. The Australian Almanac, Pub. Angus & Robertson 1985
The earliest recorded account of whaling operations carried out by the early Pitcairn settlers on Norfolk Island was November 1858, when 2 whale boats were purchased from visiting American whalers. The men were good seamen and the industry proved to be a lucrative one and in a short period of time 120 barrels of oil worth 500 pounds were produced.
Ref. Norfolk Online: the-history-of-whaling-in-norfolk-island
1949: Two stabilised metalled, cross-directional runways along with parallel taxiways are constructed at Harewood aerodrome, Christchurch.
Ref. https://www.christchurchairport.co.nz/about-us/who-we-are/airport-history/
My family moves from Norfolk Island to New Zealand where we live in government housing on Harewood aerodrome. My father continues work to establish communication systems after world war two. Harewood aerodrome is developed to become Christchurch Airport, New Zealand's first international airport.
2004 Pteropod (winged foot)
Sea butterfly
Animation
Written by me, Lisa Roberts/Euphausia superba (Antarctic krill), on
21/04/2026
