F.E. Strangward
Work table
A banker, stockbroker and man of business, Victorian born F E
Strangward had a passion for working with wood and spent much of
his spare time producing furniture. Apprenticed in his
teens to a cabinetmaker, Strangward is known to have made 22 pieces
of furniture using an inlay technique that is very close to
that used in the construction of 18th century English
Tunbridgware. This was described by Strangward himself
as "mosaique" woodware. In creating unique designs,
some of which had distinctively Australian characteristics such as
the kangaroo motif featured on this work table, Strangward
restricted himself to the use of coloured woods such as pear,
cedar, blackwood and holly that he obtained from local sources.
This piece alone is estimated to have been covered with over two
million tiny pieces of wood, many of which are only half a
millimetre thick. Strangwood constructed this and other
pieces of furniture using tools that he designed and made specially
for the purpose.
Formerly the property of Alfred Deakin, federal member for
Ballarat (1901-1913) and Australia's second Prime Minister, this
unique object was a gift of his grand daughter Mrs. Jessie
Clarke.