sketcher and engraver, was born in Perth on 31 March 1901, eldest of the three children of Benjamin Harvie Darbyshire, a lawyer, and Agnes, née Campbell. She visited England with her family at the age of six. After they returned to Perth, her father engaged an English suffragette governess, Miss Hall; Beatrice drew her portrait in England many years later (1920). She showed an early talent for drawing and, from the age of about twelve, attended Saturday morning classes given by Henri van Raalte . After two years at boarding school at the Hermitage in Geelong Victoria, she returned to Perth and studied under van Raalte from 1918 to the end of 1921 when he left for Adelaide. On his advice Beatrice decided to go to England to further her art studies, departing in 1924 to study at the Slade. After a term, she left to join the School of Engraving at the Royal College of Art, under Sir Frank Short then Malcolm Osborne. Fellow pupils included Eric Ravilious, Charles Tunnicliffe and Iain MacNab.

In 1924 one of her drypoints, The Cowshed, Balingup , was selected for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. The following year another print, In the Blackwood Country , was exhibited there. Each was awarded a Certificate of Honour and a bronze medal. She graduated with a Diploma of Associateship from the RCA in 1927 and returned to Perth, where she had an etching press made and began to exhibit her work.

A trip to the Kimberleys in 1933 to stay with the Durack family ( see Elizabeth Durack ) resulted in many drawings and prints featuring Aboriginal people and the remote landscape. Her last exhibition in Perth was in 1937. In 1940 she joined the Women’s League of Health and went to Sydney to train as an instructor. On her return to Perth she ran the local branch of the League for about twelve years. Sadly, although she wrote articles and gave lectures on art to various groups, she never returned to printmaking. Her work was rediscovered and exhibited by Hendrick Kolenberg in 1979 (Art Gallery of Western Australia). She died in July 1988.

Writers:

Chapman, Barbara

Date written:

1995

Last updated:

2011