Mascot and flag
Roberts Hall’s mascot is the Bulldog and our colours are red, white and navy. We bulldogs wear these colours proudly on special occasions and to support our fellow bulldogs at sporting events.
Roberts Hall's history
Tom Roberts
1856 - 1931
Roberts Hall is named after Tom Roberts, the father of Australian Landscape painting. The Hall was opened in June 1971
Tom Roberts (1856 - 1931) was born in England but emigrated with his parents to Australia in 1869 where they eventually settled in the suburb of Collingwood. He initially worked as a photographer's assistant through the 1870s while studying art at night. In 1881 to 1884 he went back to England to hone his craft.
He returned to Melbourne and worked out of Grosvenor Chambers at 9 Collins Street in Melbourne, and at a number of artists' camps around Australia. His most famous paintings come from this period but he was also an expert maker of picture frames, and during the period 1903-1914, when he painted relatively little, he derived most of his income from this work.
Roberts painted primarily oil landscapes and portraits with his most famous works being Shearing the rams and The Big Picture. His paintings tended to focus on ordinary, particularly country, Australians working. His works portrayed activities such as sheep shearing and chopping trees or focused on the Australian landscape. He died in 1931 of cancer in Kallista near Melbourne but is remembered today as an artist who captured the unique character of Australia in his paintings.
