Bendigo Art Gallery Gothic Beauty Victorian notions of love, loss and spirituality Oct 2018 4
`The new exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery, Gothic Beauty: Victorian notions of love, loss and spirituality traces the Victorian gothic into contemporary art, and brings together the work of a variety of artists who explore these ideas.
Of course, the business of death – that is, the protocols for managing human death, as well as its associated rituals and practices – has been a part of civic life in Bendigo since the city’s earliest days. While the practicalities of this ubiquitous profession are often unseen, death was a visible part of everyday life in the Victorian era. The Gothic Beauty exhibition includes a spectacular late 19th century horse-drawn hearse, on loan courtesy of Mulqueen Family Funeral Directors in Bendigo. While the maker of this particular hearse is unknown, models such as this were commonly used as funeral carriages in central Victoria in the late nineteenth century until as late as the 1930s, when motorised hearses were introduced.
Undertakers of the colonial era often came from a carpentry background, and utilised their skills in making coffins. In 1860, when Peter Fizelle arrived in Sandhurst (as Bendigo was known until 1891), he established a cab proprietorship, hiring his horses and carriages out to townsfolk in the thriving gold rush town. Some of the town’s undertaking businesses were amongst his regular customers. Fizelle, whose horse-drawn conveyances had become integral to the provision of funeral services in Sandhurst, transitioned into the funeral business in 1886. The partnership between Fizelle and Mulqueen, Bendigo’s oldest undertaking business, extends back to 1901.' (BAG)
Fizelle and Mulqueen, Bendigo `Mr. Thomas Abell began the business in 1853 before selling it in 1854 to Mr. Thomas Joseph Oakley who operated it until his death in 1885.
Thomas Oakley’s son William took over the business in partnership with Mr. Peter Fizelle from 1886 to 1895 when Peter Fizelle became the sole proprietor.
On February 5th 1900 the firm became Fizelle and Mulqueen following the marriage of Mr.Fizelle’s daughter, Elizabeth, to Michael Mulqueen, an Irish immigrant who had arrived on the Goldfields in 1891.
In 1934, the company became Mulqueen & Sons, and was managed by the couple’s son John, until his death in 1950...'
Bendigo Art Gallery Gothic Beauty Victorian notions of love, loss and spirituality Oct 2018 4
`The new exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery, Gothic Beauty: Victorian notions of love, loss and spirituality traces the Victorian gothic into contemporary art, and brings together the work of a variety of artists who explore these ideas.
Of course, the business of death – that is, the protocols for managing human death, as well as its associated rituals and practices – has been a part of civic life in Bendigo since the city’s earliest days. While the practicalities of this ubiquitous profession are often unseen, death was a visible part of everyday life in the Victorian era. The Gothic Beauty exhibition includes a spectacular late 19th century horse-drawn hearse, on loan courtesy of Mulqueen Family Funeral Directors in Bendigo. While the maker of this particular hearse is unknown, models such as this were commonly used as funeral carriages in central Victoria in the late nineteenth century until as late as the 1930s, when motorised hearses were introduced.
Undertakers of the colonial era often came from a carpentry background, and utilised their skills in making coffins. In 1860, when Peter Fizelle arrived in Sandhurst (as Bendigo was known until 1891), he established a cab proprietorship, hiring his horses and carriages out to townsfolk in the thriving gold rush town. Some of the town’s undertaking businesses were amongst his regular customers. Fizelle, whose horse-drawn conveyances had become integral to the provision of funeral services in Sandhurst, transitioned into the funeral business in 1886. The partnership between Fizelle and Mulqueen, Bendigo’s oldest undertaking business, extends back to 1901.' (BAG)
Fizelle and Mulqueen, Bendigo `Mr. Thomas Abell began the business in 1853 before selling it in 1854 to Mr. Thomas Joseph Oakley who operated it until his death in 1885.
Thomas Oakley’s son William took over the business in partnership with Mr. Peter Fizelle from 1886 to 1895 when Peter Fizelle became the sole proprietor.
On February 5th 1900 the firm became Fizelle and Mulqueen following the marriage of Mr.Fizelle’s daughter, Elizabeth, to Michael Mulqueen, an Irish immigrant who had arrived on the Goldfields in 1891.
In 1934, the company became Mulqueen & Sons, and was managed by the couple’s son John, until his death in 1950...'