Arts & Crafts Competition History

Today, the Arts & Crafts competition at Sydney Royal Easter Show is the biggest in Australia, attracting over 4,900 entries in a total of almost 300 classes. But its beginnings were humble – and jumbled – with different items exhibited in different sections under different banners over time.

 

As the competition developed it went through many incarnations, not least because of changing social attitudes to gendered tasks.

 

1867                     Preserves are entered in a class for miscellaneous articles.

 

1869                     The Show moves permanently from Parramatta to the city and culture arrives with it – a Fine Arts section is inaugurated, attracting competitive and non-competitive entries. Jam and Confectionary are included in the competition for Articles of Colonial Manufacture, along with other things like saddlery and wool work.

 

1871                     A section called ‘Miscellaneous Produce or Food (fresh or preserved)’ is established to include: bread, pastry, jam, confectionary, preserved fruits & vegetables, biscuits.

 

1905                     A Women’s Industries section is introduced, initially as a sub-section of ‘Apparatus & processes used in the common and liberal arts, artisans' works, inventions etc’, but later becoming a section of its own. Only women are allowed to compete. The classes in this section were varied and could include: quilting, manchester, carving, embroidery, smocking, lacework, fretwork, crochet, knitting, paper flowers, needlework, clothing, hats, ribbon work, tatting, painting, photography, preserves, bottled fruits, cakes, confectionary, macramé, bookbinding, beaten copper & brass work, bead work, inventions (scientific, practical, medical etc), face creams, carpentry, hair working, canvas work, silk cocoons, correspondence … and more.

 

1919                     No Show held due to the influenza outbreak.

 

1920-28               Cookery appears in the Agriculture Section. Classes include confectionary, bread, cakes, pastry, scones, puddings, sauces, preserves, bottled fruits, and biscuits.

 

1929-38               No art or craft competitions during this period.  The Great Depression also spanned these years, affecting RAS activities and membership levels, especially in the early 1930s.

 

1939                     Women’s Industries section returns. The competition is divided into needlework and cookery classes. (Cookery classes were identical to those in 1920-28.)

 

1940                     Women’s Industries section is renamed Women’s Handicrafts.

 

1942-46               No Show due to WWII and military occupation of the Showground.

 

 

1947-57               In 1947 the section’s name changes to ‘Women’s Handicrafts and Similar Work by Returned Servicemen’. Many wounded soldiers learned crafts as occupational therapy during convalescence and the inclusion of their work was an important step towards opening the section up to all men. Sewing, cooking and craft classes continued to be included in the section. From this point onwards the section underwent many name changes: Home & Handcrafts (1948-1951); Arts & Handcrafts (1952-1956); and finally, Arts & Crafts (1957). Classes were continually added, expanded, and changed. In 1954 classes for blind or partially blind persons were introduced.

 

1958-2011          Small name changes continue as organisers vacillate between splitting the Art and Craft components into separate entities and reuniting them. In 2011 the competition becomes the Sydney Royal Arts & Crafts Show and stays that way.

 

2015                     Digital Artwork is added as a class, acknowledging the new directions that lie ahead for this section.