Edith Emery and the Glazed Igloo in an Icy Desert

Abstract

In 1938, Dr Edith Emery (1909-2004), an Austrian medical doctor with a specialization in gynaecology, migrated to Hobart, Tasmania, escaping the political turmoil of Europe. Later settling in 1948 but unable to practice as a doctor in Tasmania, she embarked on a new course of study and a career in architecture. She is among European emigres who arrived in Australia between 1930 and 1950 and influenced the development of modernism in the Antipodes, though she has been unknown in architectural circles until recently. Within that group, her career trajectory is particular, combining formative architectural experiences at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna during the late 1920s with professional a..