AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD: At Home in British India

We are delighted to have well-known historian, conservationist and author, Dr James Broadbent, as a guest curator for our annual House of Ideas series.

Following on from Akira Isogawa, Pascale Gomes McNabb, Romance was Born and Rosslynd Piggott, our House of Ideas series continues to offer an opportunity for creative individuals to reinterpret William Johnston’s collection in new ways.

In An Englishman Abroad: At Home in British India, Dr Broadbent will recreate British-style interiors found in India around the 1830s and explore the fascinating world of the British Raj.

An Englishman Abroad will focus on the early 19th century British-Indian items in the Collection, along with other elements of British-Indian culture and society during this period, concluding with the magnificent 'Government House Kolkata (Calcutta)' furniture.

In this exhibition-house tour, Dr Broadbent will recreate Fairhall as an early 19th century British colonial interior, providing visitors with an insight into what it was like to live as an Englishman in India at the time of British colonial rule of the subcontinent.

Dr Broadbent's particular area of study is colonial houses, their furnishings, gardens and the people that built and lived in them and he has worked extensively on the properties cared for by the Historic Houses Trust in NSW.

He has written numerous journal articles and book chapters and his publications, often complementing HHT exhibitions of the same theme and title, include: India, China, Australia: Trade and Society 1788-1850 (2003) and The Australian Colonial House: Architecture and Society in New South Wales 1788-1842 (1997).

This Fairhall exhibition is generously supported by The Friends of The Johnston Collection

Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM)
Harps Australia
Richmond (Football Club) Museum
RIT dyes and Fabric Care, Australia