Eureka 1854 – 1954 : a folio of lino-cuts

Melbourne : Popular Print Art Group, 1954. Quarto, lettered paper portfolio (a little edge-worn, the tipped-on Noel Counihan linocut on the front panel in fine condition), four sheets letterpress and fourteen original linocuts of the Eureka Rebellion by Ray Wenban, Noel Counihan, Pat O’Connor, Peter Miller, Ailsa O’Connor, Len Gale, Ernie McFarlane, Maurice Carter, Naomi Shipp and Mary Zuvella. An important and complete portfolio of artworks, produced by the left-wing Melbourne collective sympathetic to the unionist sentiments of the Ballarat miners. This copy, unusually, retains the delicately placed cover image.

See: Robert Smith, Noel Counihan Prints 1931-1981, Sydney, Hale & Ironmonger, 1981, pp 68-70 (illustrated).

‘A portfolio of four unbound sheets of letterpress and fourteen linocuts produced by ten artists from the left wing Melbourne collective sympathetic to the unionist sentiments of the Ballarat miners. The cover has a tipped-on original Noel Counihan linocut printed in light blue ink. It is known that one (or more?) copies were issued with an additional proof linocut of The sentry by Maurice Carter, printed in umber. The portfolio was produced in an edition of 500 copies, priced at 7/​6.’ – Trove

Copies held in the National Gallery of Victoria and National Gallery of Australia amongst other institutions.