Wallflowers: Digital Interactive Experience

Guest blogger: Anna Rowe - 2025 Digital collections catalyst 

Wallflowers: Reimagining Historical Interiors doesn’t just notice the details hiding in the background – it celebrates them. The wallpaper patterns visible in historical photographs from Canning Downs Homestead, Rinaultrie and Westbrook Homestead, were reconstructed in detail and visualised using traditional palettes in their respective blogs. But how might these patterns look using randomised modern palettes? 

Introducing the Wallflowers: Digital Interactive Experience. Click on the link to play with colour and pattern!

Simply tap (for mobile) or click (for desktop / laptop) on the screen to see your selected pattern generated in an infinite variety of colours. Use the buttons on the right-hand side to navigate between the four different patterns. See a combination you like? Simply select the ‘Save Wallpaper’ button and you can download the image to use as your screensaver – from wallpaper to wallpaper.

The following examples illustrate some of the colour and pattern combinations you might expect.

Westbrook Homestead 1 - Drawing Room

Westbrook Homestead 2 - Library

Canning Downs Homestead

Rinaultrie

By zooming in on the details visible in historical photographs from the John Oxley Collection and recontextualising and reimagining the decorative elements in digital form, we can engage with them in new and interesting ways – connecting the past and present through colour and pattern.

Notice how the changing colours shift how the various elements in the pattern are perceived. Sometimes the flowers dominate, sometimes it’s the leaves. The colours are randomised, so it may take a few goes before you find a combination you like. But remember, once you click forward, you can’t go back. So, save what you like, when you see it.

Have fun picking your favourite Wallflowers! 

Read other blogs by Anna Rowe:

• Wallflowers: Reimagining Historical Interiors
• Wallflowers: ‘Rinaultrie’, Toowoomba
• Wallflowers: Westbrook Homestead
• Wallflowers: Canning Downs and Wolverton

Read other blogs by past Digital Collections Catalysts.