Specialist historical studies of Australian decorative arts have long been the preserve of the dedicated collector, enthusiast or private historian, rather than the museum curator or university academic. In this aspect, detailed studies of Australian decorative arts have followed the trend in the UK, where many historical studies have been written by private scholars and published by the admirable Antique Collectors’ Club. The pioneering studies of Australian furniture (Clifford Craig and Kevin Fahy, 1972), silver (J.B. Hawkins, 1973), and pottery and glass (Marjorie Graham, 1979 and 1981) presented (in volumes that now seem rather slender) modest information and adequate images gleaned from their authors’ research. The style for such publications changed dramatically in the mid-1980s when big books with masses of images and higher price tags hit the market. Commencing with Kevin Fahy’s Nineteenth Century Australian Furniture in 1985, hefty volumes on Australian silver, furniture, jewellery and pottery have provided invaluable reference books for nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Australian decorative arts. Many of these more recent publications were also co-authored by the industrious Fahy.