The Daphne Mayo Collection / Home
I must finish, it is my work

 

Some of Daphne Mayo's sculpting tools

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1925-1938 - Return to Brisbane

Following the death of her only sibling Dick, in 1924 due to the effects of gas poisoning in World War I, Mayo decided to return to Brisbane.

In June 1925 she arrived to much critical acclaim and celebrations from the Queensland public. Sponsorship and support for Mayo to remain in Brisbane helped her secure commissions of large monumental works in Brisbane.

She had the necessary support of major artists and sculptors, such as Sir Bertram Mackennal RA and Sir John Longstaff to secure this public art patronage. Mackennal encouraged Queenslanders to support her:

You should give her a chance, I have seen her work at Home, and she only wants a chance to prove herself ... Her every effort would be a delight for you to have forever. [10]

Longstaff further argued in 1931:

... In Miss Daphne Mayo Queensland had a sculptress of genius ... and it was up to the State to give her all the encouragement it could. [11]

Mayo also had the influential support of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Rev James Duhig, a great patron and collector of local art.

He commissioned her to do the tympanum and the Stations of the Cross for the Church of the Holy Spirit, New Farm, adjoining Wynberg, the Archbishop's official residence.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Mayo received many public commissions in Brisbane, including the following:

  • Tattersall's Club frieze 1926
  • Tympanum and Concert Hall frieze of the new City Hall 1927-1930
  • Tympanum and Stations of the Cross, Church of the Holy Spirit,
    New Farm 1929-1930
  • Queensland Womens War Memorial, ANZAC Square 1929-32
  • Relief panels for the chapel of Mt Thompson Crematorium 1934

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Archbishop James Duhig, Daphne Mayo and Vida Lahey (right),
at the opening of Vida Lahey's 1934 Brisbane exhibition at Griffiths Tea Rooms
(Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd) UQFL119_pic019

Daphne Mayo recalls working on the City Hall's Tympanum,

.... "I used to get up at first crack of dawn, 4am I think - toast a crust of bread and a slice of bacon - and get into my little car and off to the job. Sometimes it was still so dark when I got there that I had to wait until it was light enough to see - this would probably be about 5am. At 9am it was so hot working against that stone wall that I was nearly fried. Then I packed up my pneumatic drill and went home and was back again at 4 in the afternoon, working until too dark ..." [12]

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Sowing the Seed, relief panel for the chapel of Mt Thompson Crematorium, 1934
[JMM no.85] UQFL119_pic020

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Detail of clay model of the tympanum of the new City Hall 1927-1930 [JMM no.72] UQFL119_pic021

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Detail of the Tympanum for the Church of the Holy Spirit, New Farm 1929-1930 [JMM no.70] UQFL119_pic022

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Hope, relief panel for the chapel of the Mt Thompson Crematorium, 1934
[JMM no.84] UQFL119_pic024

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Detail of Queensland Women's War Memorial, Anzac Square 1929-32
[JMM no.76] UQFL119_pic023

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Brisbane City Hall construction
image Bertha Mobsby UQFL119:2

Alderman W A Jolly, CMG, Lord Mayor of Brisbane in the Souvenir Official Opening of The City Hall Brisbane - Queensland wrote:

The Official Opening of the new City Hall ... will be one of the most important events in the life of our city. It is a realisation of a vision of over a quarter of a century ago. The erection of so noble an edifice is not only a visible symbol of the civic enterprise of the present generation, but a monument to the early pioneers who laid the foundations of our city, for it is upon their labours that the superstructure of the city's present importance has been built. [13]

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Clay model of the City Hall tympanum, Brisbane, 1930 [JMM no.72] UQFL119_pic021

Mayo had many private commissions during this time, both within Queensland and interstate.

The private commissions within Queensland include:

  • Portrait bust of Canon Dixon, Headmaster, Southport Boys High School, 1926
  • Portrait bust of Mr Illidge, naturalist friend of Mayo's mother, 1927
  • Portrait bust of the Rt Hon (later Lord) Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia, 1929-1932
  • Portrait bust of Winifred Ponder, Queensland journalist, c1932
  • Portrait bust of Miss Pike, c1936

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Portrait bust of the Rt Hon Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Prime Minister of Australia, 1929-1932
[JMM no.68] UQFL119_pic025

Canon Dixon, Headmaster, Southport Boys High School, 1926

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Portrait bust of Canon Dixon, Headmaster, Southport Boys High School, 1926
[JMM no.47] UQFL119_pic026

There were also many interstate commissions, including this small selection:

  • Memorial to Richard Godfrey Rivers at St David's Cathedral Hobart 1931-1932
  • Model for the King George V Memorial, Canberra 1937
  • Two female saints for St David's Cathedral Hobart 1935-1936

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Memorial to Richard Godfrey Rivers
for St David's Cathedral, Hobart 1931-1932
[JMM no.78] UQFL119_pic027

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Two female saints for St David's Cathedral Hobart
[JMM no.89 & 90] UQFL119_pic029
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