Caroline Simpson papers, ca. 1671-ca. 2003

fonds

ca. 1671-ca. 2003

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs

891744

Caroline Simpson was the oldest of six children of the media proprietor Sir Warwick Fairfax whose ancestor John Fairfax arrived in Sydney in 1838. He purchased the Sydney Herald in 1841 and turned it into the Sydney Morning Herald the following year. In 1856 he founded the company of John Fairfax and Sons. Sir Warwick's first wife was Marcie Elizabeth (Betty) Fairfax (nee Wilson). Caroline grew up in her parents' house, Barford, in Bellevue Hill, attended the Rosemont Play School and the Fairfield kindergarten and received her schooling at the prestigious girls' school Ascham. In 1946 Simpson's parents divorced and she lived for a while with her mother and step father in Tokyo before attending finishing school at Interlaken. After her return to Sydney she lived with her father and his second wife Hanne at Barford.

In 1959 Caroline Fairfax married (Edward) Philip Telford Simpson, a partner from 1951 to 1989 in the legal firm of Minter, Simpson and Co. of which his father and grandfather had also been partners. Simpson was the son of Edward Telford Simpson whose family arrived in Australia in 1822 and Ursula Catterall whose family arrived in 1865. Simpson's great-grandfather Percy Simpson was an offcer who became a Crown Lands Commissioner and Police Commissioner at Singleton and who developed extensive landholdings in the Hunter River area. He later settled at Oatlands at Parramatta.

Passionately interested in the first fifty years of white settlement in Australia, Caroline Simpson became actively involved in the Women's Committee of the National Trust of NSW after its formation by Dame Helen Blaxland in 1961. She was associated with the Committee for over a quarter of a century and was its vice-chairperson in the mid-1980s.

In the late 1970s Tammie Fraser invited her to join the Board of the Australiana Fund, another organisation which she was to serve for many years. Caroline Simpson also actively engaged in writing, publishing and co-ordinating exhibitions. She was the co-author, co-editor or publisher of eight books: 'Australian Antiques: First Fleet to Federation' (1977), 'John Fairfax, 1804-77' (1977), 'Ascham Remembered 1886-1986' (1986), 'Railways, Relics and Romance' (1995), 'Jean Appleton' (1988), 'Stones of Learning' (2000), 'A History of the Macquarie Obelisk' (2002) and 'Government House, Parramatta 1788-2000' (2003). Simpson also wrote numerous articles for the 'Australian Dictionary of Biography' and other publications as well as giving talks about subjects she was interested in.

Caroline Simpson became very wealthy in the late 1980s when her half-brother Warwick Fairfax unsuccessfully tried to take over John Fairfax Publications. This enabled her to extend her collecting interests. She was an avid but discerning collector and was a generous but discreet benefactor to institutions like the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, the State Library of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 1992 she bought Clyde Bank, the oldest Georgian house in Sydney and after three years of restoration work it was opened to the public in 1995 as an art gallery of colonial art and furniture.

Reference:
Compiled from the collection

Series 01: Caroline Simpson personal papers, ca. 1935-2003 (Boxes 1-36, Box 37X)

Series 02: Fairfax Family history, ca. 1671-ca. 1997 (Boxes 38-65)

Series 03: Simpson Family history, ca. 1804-ca. 1945 (Boxes 66-76)

Series 04: Research material related to Australian history, ca. 1944-ca. 2000 (Boxes 77-132)

Series 05: Series 05: Papers of Greg Chappell, Nesta Griffiths, Joan Ferber, Valerie Cox, Janet Cosh, and Arthur Westrup Dibley, ca. 1861-ca. 1993 (Boxes 133-153)

Series 06: Books from the Diana Pockley Horticultural Library, ca. 1861-ca. 2001 (Boxes 154-163)

Series 07: Glass negatives of Geoffrey Fairfax and family and other scenes, ca. 1890-1900

Series 08: The Rocks, ca. 2002 / photographed by Greg Weight (PXD 1018)

Copyright status:: In copyright -- This collection has multiple copyright owners
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales