Restored wooden heirlooms and carved birds in flight are among artist Olivia O’Connor’s favourite things.
Words Lucy Munro
Photography Nicky Cawood
IN a shed in Leongatha, a dairy town at the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges in South Gippsland, Olivia O’Connor is working wood. Perched at a bench with two dogs at her feet, she examines a honey-coloured plank of maple. Her fingers skim the grain; then she picks up a carving tool and slices long ribbons from the surface as smoothly as if the wood were butter.
O’Connor is a wood carver with an unusual specialty: she creates and restores handmade rocking horses. The kind of pieces that become heirlooms, these horses are big enough for a toddler to climb on, with real horsehair, hand-stitched saddles and painted hides. “Jewellery, grandfather clocks and rocking horses are the things that are passed down generation after generation,” she says. “It’s quite a privilege to be a part of that story.” She’s one of only a handful of artisans in Australia skilled in custom-building new rocking horses and refurbishing antique pieces, and last year was awarded a fellowship by Artisans’ Guild Australia for her work.
