Florence Broadhurst

Florence Broadhurst designed and printed brightly-coloured stylised wallpapers, influenced by Oriental art. Her career started out as a singer and musician, then moved on to painting. Eventually she established Australian (Hand Printed) Wallpapers Pty Ltd in 1959 which later became Florence Broadhurst Wallpapers Pty Ltd. Now her work has made a huge comeback, with her wallpaper and fabric designs being produced by Signature Prints, Sydney. A docu-drama directed by Gillian Armstrong called Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst details her life. The book Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret and Extraordinary Lives by Helen O'Neill investigates her life and work in more detail. Her life was full of creativity and travel, but ended tragically when she was murdered in her own home in Sydney's Paddington in 1977, a mystery still unsolved.