Description

Extended Data

Birth Place

Scotland

Biography

Peter Harley was born in Scotland about 1873 and died in 1941 in Ipswich, after spending thirty-four years in the Ipswich Hospital for the Criminally Insane. He was aged thirty-five when he was taken into the Rockhampton Reception House as a 'lunatic patient’ in July 1907. On 7 July 1907 the Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) reported the attempted suicide of Peter Harley by jumping from the SS Konoowarra as it left Maryborough on 1 July (http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/53101092), after which he was detained by the police at Rockhampton and then taken to the Wolston Park Hospital for the criminally insane. Although little is known of his history and background, Harley appeared to be a man of some education as he then had in his possession books of poetry and photographic equipment (including photographs of Pompeii) as well as a portfolio of mining shares and a Government Savings Bank book. By 1916 it was reported that Harley: 'spends his time in carving & has carved the Honour Board for the Institution. He has a little box where he keeps all his tools which he locks himself’ (quoted in Rix and Cooke, 2009). It was this honour board that was instrumental in rescuing him from obscurity as the University of Queensland took over Challinor House as part of its Ipswich campus in 1997. When Harley was admitted in 1908 Challinor House had a thirty year history as an asylum. Harley’s carving activity spanned more than twenty years and items carved with his distinctive motifs have appeared on the local market from time to time. There is nothing in Harley’s work to suggest that he had any formal training but, by the time record of Harley’s activity emerged, woodcarving was readily accepted as a hobby – a hobby, moreover, that required the simplest of equipment. His carvings of people (notable in the Figure of a Scottish man and woman ) and animals (such as on the undated workbox inscribed Laugh and grow fat ) are readily recognised by the smoothness of their forms which appear as if they have been slightly inflated. His treatment of flowers with their formalised petal design, the incising of veins in his leaves and his tight rendition of half-opened roses appear consistently throughout his career. John Lobley was the chief attendant at the Ipswich Hospital for the Insane for many years and the large number of works associated with the family suggests that Harley was commissioned by Lobley or that he created items in appreciation of Lobley’s encouragement. The looping carved details of the individual family names is quite distinctive. Although Maud Lobley’s work box is carved with her maiden name indicating that it would date prior to her marriage to Jack Day in 1920, it is also carved with a horseshoe which is a long standing symbol for good luck or marriage. Numerous carvings are also known to be in the possession of descendants of other former staff the Ipswich Hospital for the Insane. Some of Harley’s works such as the European War: Roll of Honour 1914 – 1919 and the honour board for the Ipswich RSL Memorial Hall sub-branch were presumably commissioned, whereas his small-scale carvings (bearing inscriptions such as 'Merry Christmas’ or 'Mother’) and picture frames indicate that he found something of a market for his works. This suggestion is strengthened by of a group of carved items in silky oak, dating from the 1920s when this Queensland timber came into popular use for furniture. They are also indicative of a development in Harley’s carving skills and control. A pair of plant stands in a simplified arts and crafts design are decorated with stylised fruit incorporated within diamonds, reflecting an angularity that can be associated with art deco. The Cupboard in silky oak is dated to the 1930s when arum lilies became fashionable, although the stylised sunflower harks back to the aesthetic period. Writers: Cooke, Glenn R. helenpringle Date written: 2009 Last updated: 2015

Born

b. 1873

Summary

Scottish born wood-carver who spent thirty-four years in the Ipswich Hospital for the Insane. The strong local connection and distinctive style enabled a corpus of his work to be assembled and exhibited at the Ipswich Art Gallery.

Gender

Male

Died

1941

Age at death

68