California and Australia have always had strong similarities and significant connections, most of all in terms of their architecture. Erika Esau’s lecture reports upon the research for her new book Images of the Pacific Rim: Australia and California, 1850-1935. She is concerned with exchanges between California and Australia, especially in the early years of the twentieth century. But the special relationship dates from the time of the gold rushes, when the first frame house in California was built of wood from houses brought from Tasmania. Esau has discovered much else about the travels of Australian architects to California, and about the means by which Californian developments were disseminated in Australia.

Erica Esau is a native Californian who spent more than a decade teaching art history—including the history of Australian art—at the Australian National University, Canberra. She received her Ph.D. in the History of Art from Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania. Her writings on Australian art and culture include Images of the Pacific Rim, Blue Guide Australia (with George Boeck), E.O. Hoppé’s Australia (with Graham Howe), and articles on the history of Australian photography.