Thesis title: The Lady Vanishes: The professionalisation of women artists between Britain and Australia, 1885-1907

Supervisors: Dr Sarah Scott

My research has unearthed all sorts of interesting works of art and has helped complete the provenance trail of a number of works.  For example, I discovered that a very important painting by the suffragist artist Emily S. Ford, which had been donated to the Hepworth Wakefield Museum in Yorkshire was first exhibited at a groundbreaking women's industries exhibition in Bristol in 1885.  With another nineteenth-century colleague, I unearthed two superb portraits by the Scottish/Australian artist Mary Stoddard.  I had first known of the works when I analysed early Art Society of New South Wales catalogues, but never dreamed that I would one day locate the works themselves. My future ambitions are to keep researching women artists of the nineteenth century and hopefully work with a British collection, or do postdoc studies in the UK. One major project I am dreaming of doing is to create a universal database of nineteenth century women artists working between Britain and Australia that also locates the sites where they exhibited their work.  I have always wanted to be a director of a museum or gallery, so if my PhD could open that door I would be overjoyed.  On a personal level, I would love to write a book or two about some of the remarkable women artists I have had the privilege to study. So many wonderful things to do!