The Museum
Geoff and Kerrie Ford
Geoff Ford OAM, FAIHA, and Kerrie Ford FAIHA, are the Owner Directors of the National Museum of Australian Pottery which they established in 1995 in Wodonga, Victoria. Geoff has spent many years researching, lecturing and curating travelling exhibitions on nineteenth and early twentieth century Australian pottery and has written ten books on the subject.
On Australia Day 2001, Geoff was awarded the ‘Order of Australia Medal’ for his service to the arts, particularly the study of early Australian pottery. In August 2004, Geoff and Kerrie were made Fellows of the 'Australian Institute of History and Art', for their work in preserving and researching early Australian Pottery.
Geoff is an approved valuer of Australian Pottery for the Australian Government’s Cultural Gift Program and an approved expert examiner for the Australian Government’s Office for the Art’s, for the protection of Movable Cultural Heritage.
In September 2006 after a move from Wodonga, they opened the new and permanent home of the National Museum of Australian Pottery in Holbrook, NSW.
The Museum is always interested in acquiring early Australian pottery pieces from any of the potters listed below, to add to the collection either by gift, bequest or purchase. If you, or someone you know, has a piece and are willing to part with it we would be happy to hear from you. Please bring them to the Museum at 76 Albury Street Holbrook, NSW or contact us by phone (02) 6036 3464 or by e-mail.
About The Building
» This heritage building was built in 1910, by the contractor, Amos Crisp, for A.H. Mackie and Company and was built on the Arcade principal of two stories.
» During June 1911, the new General Store opened its doors to the public as Mackie’s Palace Emporium’.
» Around 1920, A. Miller & Co. purchased the premises and reopened it as a General Store.
» In 1933, Arthur Hamilton Mackie purchased the premises and with his son Gordon Charlton, continued to operate it as a General Store trading as ‘A. H. Mackie & Son’.
» In 1946, the ‘Edwards Tea Co.’, purchased the business and employed Alex Lynch to manage the Store, which continued trading as ‘A. H. Mackie & Son’.
» In 1964 Alex Lynch purchased the premises and with his son John, continued to operate it as a General Store trading as ‘A. H. Mackie & Son’.
» In 2002 John and Jody Whitley purchased the premises and continued to operate it as a Grocery Store trading as Holbrook Fresh Food Market.
» On the 20th August 2004, Geoff and Kerrie Ford purchased the empty building. They built a residence and converted the store into the permanent home of the National Museum of Australian Pottery which was officially opened on the 1st October 2006.
ABC Open Objects
Click on this link to see videos on our ABC Open page
https://open.abc.net.au/people/national-museum-of-australian-pottery-26po4se
Past Short Term Exhibitions
Listen to an ABC radio interview by clicking on the link
Rediscovering Jonathan Leak
www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2011/07/07/3263544.htm
Artware to Utility - the story of Modern Ceramic Products
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2012/03/28/3465442.htm
Melrose Art Pottery 1931 – 1942
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2012/11/05/3626058.htm
Potters in the Museum
| A | E | Lane Cove Brick & Pottery | Ramsey, John & Son |
| Abbott, William & Sons | Eastwood, Benjamin | Leak, Jonathan | Reliance Pottery Co |
| Adelaide Pottery Co. Ltd. | Ebbw Vale Pottery Works | Leiper Bros. | Rogers, Richard & Co |
| Adelaide Potteries Ltd | F | Lithgow Pottery | Rumble, James |
| Agnew, David | Federal Pottery | Lindop, George | S |
| Albury Pottery | Field, Thomas | London Pottery Works | Sandison, James |
| Albion Pottery Works | Field & Sons Pottery | London Pottery Co | Shearing, George |
| B | Fischer, George | Longford Pottery | Sherwood Pottery |
| Bakewell Brothers Pottery | Fowler, Enoch | Longueville Pottery | Silcock, James |
| Baldock, Frederick & Henry | Fowler, Robert | M | Southern Cross Pottery |
| Ballarat Pottery | Fowler Pottery | Magill Pottery | Standard Pottery |
| Balmoral Art Pottery | G | Marks, George | Stone, Charles |
| Beechworth Pottery Co | Gare, Jack | Marrickville Pottery | Stone, Roy |
| Bendigo Pottery | Gillbrook Pottery | Mashman & Sandison | Steinkrus, August |
| Bennett’s Pottery | Gilson, James | Mashman Brothers | Surry Hills Pottery |
| Bognuda & Sons | Gilson & Rumble | McHugh, John | Sydenham Pottery Co |
| Brazier, John | Goodlet & Smith | Meredith, Edwin | Sydney Pottery Works |
| Breakfast Creek Pottery | Goulbourn Street Pottery | Mills, John & Co | T |
| Brough, James | Guthrie, George Duncan | Moreton, Anson | Tibbs, Charles |
| Bristol Pottery | H | Moreton, John | Trentham Pottery |
| Brownfield’s Pottery | Hambleton, Richard | Moreton & Sons Pottery | Trewenack, John |
| Bundamba Pottery | Hall & Silcock | N | Turton, James & Sons |
| Burwood Pottery | Hart & Gallagher | Newcastle Pottery | Turton & Plumridge Pottery |
| C | Hillcoat, Anthony | Nolan, Luke | V |
| Campbell, James & Sons Pottery | Hindmarsh Pottery | Northcote Pottery | Victorian Art Pottery |
| Campbell’s Pottery | Hoffman Potteries | O | W |
| Camperdown Pottery | Holford, Thomas | Ovens Pottery | Walker Benson Ltd |
| Capel Pottery Works | Holford, William | P | Waratah Pottery |
| Castlemaine Pottery | Horsham Pottery | Phoenix Pottery | Waterloo Firebrick Co |
| Clyde Pottery | Humes Ltd. | Piercy, Frederick | Waterloo Thornton |
| Conlon, Michael & Co | Huon Pottery | Piercy, William | Welham, Nathan |
| Coorparoo Pottery | I | Pioneer Pottery | Wilkes, Thomas |
| Cornwell, Alfred | Industrial Brick Co | Pitman & Piercy Pottery | Wilson & Ridge Pottery |
| Cornwell’s Pottery | Irrawang Pottery | Plumridge, James & Co | Wunderlich Limited |
| Courtland, Richard | J | Port Arthur Pottery | Y |
| Courtland & Pederson | James, Abraham | Premier Pottery | Yarraville Pottery |
| D | K | Price, James | Yeates, Henry |
| Dahlke’s Filter & Pottery Co | King, James | Q | |
| Dawes, Alfred & Co | Kosters Premier Pottery | Queensland Pottery | |
| Dinmore Brick & Tile Co | L | R | |
| Dinmore Pottery | Lal Lal Pottery | Ramsey, Jock |