Born in Woollahra, Sydney in 1879, she was the third child of Henry Mort, an Anglican clergyman, and his wife Kate Isaacs. Henry was a nephew of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, the famous engineer, industrialist and pastoralist.

Educated at St Catherine's Clergy Daughters' School, Waverley, she excelled not only in art, painting and design, but received prizes in English, French, Mathematics and Botany.

As a child she spent most of her holidays in the country with relatives, and developed a great love of Australian flora and fauna and the farm buildings.

In 1897, aged 21, Eirene travelled alone to London where she gained her art-teacher's certificate.

She studied at the Grosvenor Life School, the Royal School of Art Needlework and the Royal College of Art, South Kensington. She was greatly influenced by the philosophy of the Pre-Raphaelites and by William Morris. These influences can be seen in her later work.

In 1906 she returned to Sydney and set up her first studio with her friend and fellow student, Nora Weston.

The studio developed into a professional design and Australian art centre which flourished for more than 30 years. Somewhat before their time, they promoted Australian products and design, and created items as diverse as furniture, wood carving, metalwork, bookbinding and leatherwork, using their own designs and decorations.

Eirene helped to organise and publicise the Australian Exhibition of Women's Work in 1907: her many exhibits included fine embroideries and bold decorative designs for every branch of applied art. She also wrote and illustrated articles for the Sydney Mail and Art and Architecture.

Visiting England again in 1909, she studied medieval art, illustration, illumination and etching. On her return she made many etchings using historical and rural subjects.

In the 1920s her many bookplates revealed a knowledge of heraldry, skills in etching, woodcuts and pen-drawing, and expressed a love of Australian subjects and an individual sense of humour. A respected teacher of art, she served as principal of the Women Painters' Art School and taught at such schools as Abbotsleigh, Kambala and Sydney Girls' Grammar in Darlinghurst.

She wrote and illustrated several books about Australian fauna and flora for children.

In 1937 Eirene moved to Mittagong, taking up residence at Greenhayes, an old farm on The Gib, and teaching at Frensham School. After retiring from the school in 1949, she continued to pursue her artistic career with great vigour. She moved to Bowral in 1960.

Amongst her most important works are her sketches and etchings of Canberra in the 1920s, before the paddocks gave way to the capital. She had spent many holidays with her family in the area, and sketched its houses, huts, barns and landscapes. She exhibited a series of etchings of these in 1927, but almost all are now long gone.

Of local interest are her illustrations and decorations in the booklet produced for Mittagong's Iron Week Centenary Celebrations in 1948. This commemorated Australia's first iron smelting at the Fitzroy works.

Unmarried, Eirene Mort found time in her busy life to maintain contact with her large extended family, becoming its focal point and historian.

She published several books on the Mort family, including A Bundle of Sticks, My People and The Mort Letter Book. Her entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (1986), from which some of the above details are taken, also states that "the scope of work and variety of media that she mastered are impressive. Contemporary reviews praised her skilled craftsmanship, her attention to detail, and her witty and inventive use of Australian motifs. She constantly sought to improve the quality of Australian design".

At the age of 86, Eirene submitted an entry in the decimal currency design competition, for which she was Highly Commended.

Her niece Margaret Mort wrote a biography for the re-publication of Old Canberra, a Sketchbook of the 1920s [Eirene Mort, NLA, Canberra, 1987]. In it she stated that Eirene's interest in history was always great, and described how, in her 90th year, Eirene began to collect the sketches she had made over the years into the most exquisite books. Beautifully assembled, mounted and annotated, the books are described by Margaret as a joy to behold.

Eirene was still working on one of these when she died in 1977 at Bowral, aged 98.

The National Library holds a number of her books and several hundred drawings.

This article compiled by PHILIP MORTON is sourced from the archives of Berrima District Historical & Family History Society, Bowral Rd, Mittagong. Phone 4872 2169.

Email bdhsarchives@gmail.com.

Web: berrimadistricthistoricalsociety.org.au