By Cameron Weston
WALLPAPER is like muzak for most people – it sits quietly in the background and only gets noticed when it is very kitsch or very loud.
But for one Williamstown collector, it has become an obsession.
Phyllis Murphy, a retired architect with an interest in historic interiors, has been collecting vintage wallpaper for many years, and part of her collection will soon be on show at the Williamstown Historical Society.
Mrs Murphy’s collection of several hundred wallpapers spans more than 150 years, from “elaborate Victorian” pieces, through “1930s art deco”, to more modern examples.
Most of the pieces are made by English, French and American makers, who led the field with particularly fine workmanship, woodcut printing and hand detailing.
The Industrial Revolution changed the way wallpaper was made, Mrs Murphy said, with mass production enabling companies to produce cheaper examples of lower quality, pieces with less appeal for the serious collector.
She said gold leaf was often applied in the nineteenth century, probably because it looked good in flickering candlelight.
Vintage wallpaper hunters must have a detailed knowledge and a keen eye, Mrs Murphy said, and must be willing to travel and get their hands dirty to find the best pieces.
“I find them in the rooves of buildings, sometimes under the floor. Sometimes I even scrape them off the walls.
“I scraped off eleven layers from Clarendon Terrace, an 1850s building in East Melbourne, and separated them.
“I had a look at a corner first. The original paper was beautiful, with stripes and roses. It was all block prints, with the colours applied to it.”
Mrs Murphy spent some time living in rural Victoria where she found several hidden treasures, many more than a century old, still on the walls of old country houses.
She said the locals were initially a little concerned when she began staring at their walls with a glazed look in her eyes, but were very obliging once they found out why.
“People just didn’t do anything to the houses in some of the old places and the original paper was still there.
“I became known as the woman who collects wallpaper, so I’d get given quite a lot.
“People don’t really want to keep them because they think they’re a nuisance”, she said, “But to me, they really are beautiful”.
The exhibition of Mrs Murphy’s collection, called ‘Off the Wall’, runs from 16 July to 27 August, on Wednesday and Sunday from 2pm to 5pm, at the Williamstown Historical Society, 5 Electra St, Williamstown.
