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Focus on AustraliaThe success of NADFAS led to the formation of an affi liated organisation in Australia. Jennifer Dewar, former National Chairman of ADFAS 2014–2016, gives an insight into its historyIn 1984, Patricia Robertson, a British expatriate living in Sydney, travelled to the UK to visit family and friends. During the course of her stay she was invited to attend a lecture at a local NADFAS. Delighted by the event, and determined to fi nd out more, Pat paid a visit to NADFAS House where she was introduced to the then National Chairman, Judith Waples. Judith spoke enthusiastically about the potential for establishing a sister organisation in Australia and presented Pat with a prescient parting gift: a copy of Managing a Decorative & Fine Arts Society. Back in Sydney, Pat had within weeks gathered together a committee of eight volunteers drawn from eminent members of the Sydney arts community. Soon they had signed up the requisite 150 members, sourced a venue, made the appropriate catering arrangements and co-opted washer-uppers and chair-stackers, the latter being a cheerful body of willing husbands offi cially known as ‘The Chair Men’. Five months after their initial committee meeting, the inaugural Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (ADFAS) lecture was delivered by Edmund Capon, then Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The freshly appointed President of the newly formed ADFAS, Lady Pagan – one of the fi rst to join Pat’s committee – hosted a cocktail party to celebrate the launch of ADFAS. The tradition of an annual party in Sydney, to which all RTI image courtesy of Cultural Heritage Imaging.Above and right: This lead curse tablet is from the Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum, Baltimore, USA. No-one knows who the unlucky recipient was, but itÕs a lot easier to read when enhanced by RTI. ADFAS has funded RTI workshops for conservators64 NADFAS REVIEW / WINTER 2016 www.nadfas.org.ukAREA FOCUS