Handwritten notes for the biography of Vida Lahey by Daphne Mayo. The notes are written on scraps of paper, envelopes (addressed to Daphne Mayo), and paper. It includes 6 pages of typescript, with handwritten emendations, entitled 'The development of Art in Queensland'. Vida Lahey wrote this article for the Exhibition of Queensland art : catalogue : Queensland National Art Gallery, Brisbane, 10th September to 7th October, 1951. On one envelope there is a draft of a letter by Mayo to Mavis asking her to read and criticise her article on Vida which isn't finished and was not typed (a requirement for submission). There is one sheet of paper with a brief account of Daphne Mayo's life: mentioning her studies; travels; the Godfrey Rivers Bequest (and the purchase of 'The Cypriot' by Dobell); the Queensland Art Fund; and the raising of funds to match the Darnell bequest and the impacts of that task.

This typescript is based on a lecture Vida Lahey delivered in the University of Queensland Duhig lecture which explains her views on the philosophy of a universal language of art. A philosophy she applied in her children's art classes established at the Queensland Art Gallery in 1941.

Written, arranged and bound by Vida Lahey, lettering by R.J. Pring. At head of title page.: A record of the second lecture in a series of lectures on art, sponsored by Professor J.V. Duhig for the University of Queensland. Text is typed on white foolscap sheets which have been pasted on the brown sheet forming the volume. Accompanying illustrations, both reproductions and originals have also been pasted in. Hand decorated covers. 9 unnumbered blank pages of brown paper.

At the bottom of the title page: The contention put forward in this address is that deeper comprehension and greater enjoyment would be derived from art, if it was regarded primarily as a visual language operating through shapes and colours, rather than through subject matter only. This language comprises an alphabet and roots, grammar and syntax, principles of composition, dialect and styles.

Photocopy of manuscript of biography of Vida Lahey. This article was written for a literary competition of the Society of Women Writers of N.S.W. in 1969. Daphne Mayo wrote it under the pyseudoynm 'Lilian MacArthur' (a combinaton of her first name and the second name of her father, William MacArthur Mayo). It gives an account of Vida Lahey's family history, her artist development, her art and her involvement in encouraging art in Queensland and for children.