SANDSTONE AND SABLE: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF PARKERS ART SUPPLIES

TAKING OVER THE OLD FAMILY business was not initially Derek Parker’s calling. During his twenties he was occupied with travel and aid work in Africa, and was somewhat indifferent to his place in a long line of suppliers to some of Australia’s most celebrated artists. But his father’s early death and the birth of his own children brought him into the fold of Parkers Art Supplies, to be mentored as a future manager by his uncle Lindsay and grandfather Clarie.

Now, thirty years later he is overseeing the celebration of a remarkable centenary. For one hundred years the Parker family has served artists and galleries in Sydney through a business that is still located in The Rocks district, and is still owned and managed by the