Lady Deborah Vernon Hackett (1887–1965) was a mining company director and philanthropist. She grew up in Western Australia, where in 1905 she married John Winthrop Hackett, newspaper proprietor and politician. During the First World War she raised funds for the war effort and wrote The Australian Household Guide, the profits from which went to various charities. Widowed in 1916, she moved to Adelaide and married Frank Moulden, who was made Mayor of Adelaide a few years later. As Lady Mayoress she raised enormous sums for Adelaide's charities. In 1923 she became interested in tantalite, a scarce mineral. After visiting potential sites in in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, she travelled to the USA to secure a contract to supply ore. She incorporated Tantalite Ltd while living in London in 1932. After Frank died she married barrister Basil Buller Murphy and lived in Melbourne, raising funds for the women's auxiliaries of various hospitals and serving on diverse welfare committees.
Deborah's first husband John Winthrop Hackett was a patron of artist Florence Fuller, and it is said that he and Deborah are portrayed in her 1905 masterpiece A Golden Hour. In this portrait, Fuller has captured her young sitter's beauty and elegance, while also revealing her intelligence and determination through her direct gaze.
Purchased with funds provided by Marilyn Darling AC 2005
This portrait of Deborah Vernon Hackett was made around 1908 by Florence Ada Fuller. It is painted with oil on canvas and measures 82 centimetres tall by 64 centimetres wide. The ornate gold frame is 13 centimetres wide. At the lower edge in the centre of the frame in black handwritten print is the inscription Mrs J.W. Hackett aet. 16. and beneath this F.A. Fuller.
The young woman is painted realistically with light brushstrokes and soft edges. She is positioned centrally, taking up the bottom two thirds of the canvas in front of a plain dark background. Deborah looks directly towards us. She is visible to her thigh which is seated in a cane chair.
The background is dark olive green. Vertical lines near the top of the painting suggest the folds of a curtain. This graduates to deep shadows that are almost black on the lower left.
Deborah wears a large black hat with a low flat crown. A few dashes of paint indicate a bow of gauzy ribbon peeping above the wide brim that sweeps upwards on either side of her head. Her medium-brown hair is drawn off her forehead and curves up and out, giving volume and framing her face. The rest of the hair hangs loose behind her, with a small section falling in gentle waves over her left shoulder.
Light touches Deborah’s face from the right of the painting, leaving the left side in partial shadow. Her oval face has a smooth fair complexion and cheeks tinged with delicate pink. Her brown eyebrows are fine and straight. Deborah’s sea-blue eyes look directly at us, their outer edges follow a slightly downwards lilt. Her nose is straight, leading to small shapely lips. The corners of her mouth are slightly upturned, the rose-pink lips are closed. Deborah has a faint groove just beneath her lower lip and a little round chin.
A band of cream open lacework encircles Deborah’s neck and extends over her chest. It is secured beneath her chin with a slender gold pin. A long strand of pale pink irregularly shaped stones also hangs about her neck. Her dress is light blue-green, and the fabric looks almost sheer, with a subtle silk-like sheen. Cream-coloured lace runs horizontally across the upper bodice, further ornamented in the middle of her chest by an oblong-shaped reddish gold pin. The sleeves are embellished with lace above the elbows and on the lower edges of the cuffs.
The cuffs of her wide sleeves hang elegantly from her wrists, creating strong almost-vertical lines in parallel with the arm of the straw-coloured cane chair. Deborah’s left hand, displaying the glint of a gold band on her ring finger, is lightly placed over her right on the top of the chair’s arm. Beneath her hands the rounded scroll-shaped edge of the chair is emphasized by its plaited edge.
The back of the cane chair curves down from the arm around her body following the sloping line of Deborah’s left hip at the lower right of the painting. On the bottom left the artist’s signature F. A. Fuller can be seen faintly in brownish pink over the dark background.
Audio description written by Lucinda Shawcross and voiced by Amy Middleby
Florence Ada Fuller (age 38 in 1905)
Lady Deborah Vernon Hackett (age 18 in 1905)
Marilyn Darling AC (33 portraits supported)
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