Author(s): John Drury

Australian Studies

Culture in Melbourne was changed in 1881 when two French women, Berthe Mouchette and Marie Lion, came to Australia.

The sisters were artists and teachers who had exhibited at the Paris Salon and soon established studios in Collins Street.Berthe and Marie spent forty-one years in Australia. They began by teaching painting and French language classes, and running Oberwyl school in St Kilda.

They started Alliance Française in Melbourne but during the depression of the early 1890s, the sisters sold the school and moved to the Adelaide hills. Very quickly they became involved in the Adelaide art scene, opening studios and tutoring children of members of Adelaide society. The sisters were also involved in founding the South Australian branch of the Alliance Française, became members of the Theosophical Society and Marie was a founding member of the Cremation Society.

Influenced by their interest in Theosophy, these French sisters were early women solo travellers to India and Tibet and on their return to Adelaide, their travels were reflected in their new teaching style and methods of painting.

When war broke out in 1914, the sisters travelled to Paris where they volunteered for night work in a Paris hospital, instructing soldiers in French language and customs. Returning to Adelaide, Marie Lion wrote two novels based on her experiences and a story about the French Revolution.Following her sister's death, Berthe returned to Paris and, strongly affected by the impact of the war on the French people, she was instrumental in Adelaide's adoption of Dernancourt on the Somme. She is memorialised today in their Gallery of Heroes.

This is an important biography and social history, detailing the influence of the French in Melbourne and Adelaide through the lives of these French sisters. Berthe Mouchette and Marie Lion were well respected for their talent and this book details the work of many artists, particularly little-known women. Through her own work and teaching, Berthe left a strong legacy of art in Australia, and the Alliance Française in Melbourne commemorates her by naming the annual poetry competition for school children, Concours Berthe Mouchette.