A LADY GARDENER
Kitty Henry lived in an old house in Sandy Bay, Hobart The house, "Ellington", situated in the "Golden Mile" of Hobart, Tasmania was surrounded by a wild and beautiful garden. It was shabby, yet exciting and mysterious within. One could ramble on from room to room and space to space, exploring the bookcases which stood in every odd corner, touching the exciting coloured vases, cracked and covered in dust. The unpainted walls, bare boards and stacks of gardening magazines and books, all added to the atmosphere of an Aladdin's Cave to a little girl of four years of age.
In the front hall, which only strangers used, was a porthole in the wall, which came off Joseph Conrad's ship and there was a fireplace that was surrounded by real Dutch tiles of beautiful Delft blue and soft green. Turning right on enetering through the main hall, one ended in the Library, a large, airy room, with bookshelves crammed with many volumes on all subjects. The walls, full of paintings and prints, were dominated by a large oil painting of Kitty, painted by L.Deschaineux, head of the art school of Hobart during the early years of this century. I have this painting now and it is simply titled "La Jardiniere". In it, Kitty stares pensively ahead, her strong chin exaggerated, her soft, brown eyes those of a young girl looking out rather doubtfully on the world. Her full lips are painted scarlet, the same shade as the Turkish fez that is capturing the long, black, wiry hair and she wears a turquoise blouse underneath a sky blue jacket Next to this painting hung another portrait by the same artist, now in the Tasmanian Art Gallery and Museum. Kitty is dressed in a black jumper and on close examination you can just discern a hole in the jumper. This is Kitty as you usually found her, dressed for the garden.
Kitty was a florist and a gardener. The years I knew her intimately were in the 1940s and 1950s. We had moved as a family from Sydney and my parents had rented a house, opposite Kitty and Papa Henry's. Sometimes I would watch her dress for a Social function and, even as a little girl, I was fascinated at the transformation that took place. In a few moments, I would see Kitty as I knew her, a mannish figure dressed in old trousers and jumper, turn into a beautiful , exotic woman, as the butterfly emerges from the dry chrysalis.
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