DB47

“Ellen Nora Payne – Woodcarver of Tasmania” by Russell Atkinson – page 84
“It is doubtful if Mrs Payne ever did a more exquisite piece of work than the bookcase and memorial shield which, in 1930, she presented to Hutchins in memory of Alan, who had died in 1925.  The delicate, lacy upper panels of the bookcase distinguish it from anything else she ever did, and the finely wrought coat-of-arms in the middle of each door, with their bold, clear-cut outlines serve to emphasise the dainty beauty of the panels above them.
Like the memorial plaque which hangs above it, the bookcase is made of English oak which Mrs Payne had specially imported. The plaque, which briefly recites Alan’s scholastic and other achievements, is surmounted by the extended wings of the Australian Flying corps and its motto, ‘Per Ardua ad Astra’.  It was carved for the school’s memorial library, which was opened and dedicated on April 26, 1926.  The bookcase, made in 1929, completed the memorial.”