“Dante’s Inferno” Artists’ Ball, Sydney (1962)

“Artists’ balls have had a long tradition in Sydney; the first one was held as early as 1881 in the Garden Palace at the Royal Botanic Gardens after the International Exhibition. Up until World War 1, the balls were held annually. […]

“By the early 1960s, most of the annual art balls were transferred to the Paddington Town Hall. The Trocadero management and police were not impressed by the boisterous behaviour of the artists, particularly at the 1961 ball (‘Splunge’), when one of the tables caught alight and the fire brigade was called.

“Situated close to Sydney’s National Art School, the move to the Paddington Town Hall suited the students who were encouraged to design even more lavish sets. NAS club president Bill Huff-Johnston who attended the balls from 1956–1961, recalls one year when the club received an extraordinary account for furniture damage after the ball, with the improbable damage sited as ‘teeth marks up chair leg’. Another young student, Barvara Hush, attended the 1962 ball at Paddington, with the theme of ‘Dante’s Inferno’. She remembers being terrified when the ‘Witch of Kings Cross’, Rosaleen Norton appeared in the Ladies Room.”    –Deborah Beck, “Scandalous nights: Sydney artists’ balls,” Dictionary of Sydney, 2013

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