Federation Australian Roll Top Desk (c. 1920)

• Oak - Native to Europe and England, oak has been used for joinery, furniture and building since the beginning of the medieval civilisation. It is a pale yellow in colour when freshly cut and darkens with age to a mid brown colour.
  
  Oak as a furniture timber was superceded by walnut in the 17th century, and in the 18th century by mahogany,
  
  Semi-fossilised bog oak is black in colour, and is found in peat bogs where the trees have fallen and been preserved from decay by the bog. It is used for jewellery and small carved trinkets.
  
  Pollard oak is taken from an oak that has been regularly pollarded, that is the upper branches have been removed at the top of the trunk, result that new branches would appear, and over time the top would become ball-like. . When harvested and sawn, the timber displays a continuous surface of knotty circles. The timber was scarce and expensive and was used in more expensive pieces of furniture in the Regency and Victorian periods.
• Roll Top - A term introduced in the 19th century to describe a desk with a sliding enclosed top.
• Federation Period - The Federation style in architecture and furniture is broadly the Australian equivalent of the English Edwardian period and extended from 1890 to 1915. The name relates to Australia becoming a Federation in 1901, when the colonies became the Commonwealth of Australia.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• desks, style or type - roll top 104