01 | Florence | A life papered over

She’s one of Australia’s most prolific and popular designers, and yet not many people know her name, let alone her audacious life story.   

Florence Broadhurst was from regional Queensland but people who met her later in life,  thought she was English aristocrat. She reinvented herself many times throughout her life.   

Today she’s known for her wallpaper designs that cemented her in Australian design history. 

But a shadow lingers over her legacy; her unsolved murder in 1977.

Guests:

• Helen O’Neill – Journalist and author, Florence Broadhurst: Her secret and extraordinary lives   
• Dr Andrew Field – Associate Professor of Chinese History, Duke Kunshan University 
• Babette Hayes OAM – Interior designer 
• David Lennie – Screen printer, Signature Prints 
• Sheridan Black – Owner, Signature Handprints 
• Tony Russell – Former NSW Police officer 
• David Lloyd-Lewis – Grandson of Florence Broadhurst 
• Laura Doble – Interior design graduate

Credits:

• Producer – Zoe Ferguson 
• Engineer – Simon Branthwaite 
• Executive Producer – Michelle Rayner