Rona Scott-Abbott

Rona May Scott-Abbott, who passed away in 2006, joined the Theosophical Society in 1975. She was originally a member of Newcastle Lodge and at one stage served its President. Her home was the venue for a number of Lodge seminars and social activities. During the early 1980s she became active in Blavatsky Lodge of the TS in Sydney and was especially involved in the work of the Theosophical Order of Service. Several years later she became a founding member of the Mosman Group which later became the Olcott Lodge. She was also a founding member of the Northern Beaches Group in Sydney.

Rona was an accredited artist of the Australian art world and is listed in sev- eral encyclopedias of artists and galleries in Australia. Her work is described as abstract-symbolist, working with religious themes, nature, and mythological characters. She taught art for many years at St. Aloysius Girls High School in Newcastle. She painted a series of paintings entitled ‘Cosmic Birth’ inspired by the Stanzas of Dzyan in H. P. Blavat- sky’s The Secret Doctrine. Originally there were over seventy oil paintings in this series, a number of which are now owned by TS members. Several are currently housed in Lodge premises around the country. She did a great deal of work for charitable organiza- tions, such as those involved with drug addicts, alcoholics, the blind and the handicapped, as well as animal welfare and vegetari- anism. She also worked with the Newcastle Branch of the Psychi- atric Rehabilitation Association. In her final years, Rona remained dedicated to theosophical ideals, working constantly for various social issues as well as animal rights. (From Theosophy in Australia, special issue 1988, and September 2006.)

Following a telephone call from Ralph Abbott, Rona’s husband, the Acting Education Coordinator, Pedro Oliveira, visited him together with the National President in November 2012, to accept his generous offer of donating the late Rona Scott-Abbott’s collection of theosophical books as well as books on art, mythol- ogy, mysticism, poetry and psychology, some of which will be of great value for the Campbell Theosophi- cal Research Library. Also included in the collection donated to the National Headquarters were over forty of her paintings based on the Stanzas of Dzyan in The Secret Doctrine referred to above. Three of those paintings now hang in the boardroom of the National Headquarters. The books and the remaining paintings are now safely stored at the National Headquarters.

The Rona Scott-Abbot Collection

The Theosophical Society in Australia

www.austheos.org.au

The Campbell Library Newsletter

February 2013

Online Resources

Articles

• The Story of a Remarkable Woman - Rona Abbott by Julian Hancock
• The Rona Scott-Abbot Collection by The Theosophical Society in Australia