Pretty But Practical

This day dress and petticoat were owned and worn by Mrs Ann Chellew nee Milburn (1872-1948) when a young woman around the turn of the twentieth century. Ann was the daughter of Janet Miller and James Milburn, who migrated to Australia from Scotland and England.  Arriving with her family (in 1852) Janet was a baby, […]

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The Dress with Two Lives

Many objects from previous generations tightly conceal the identities and lives of the people who made and used them, but occasionally, they give away a few clues. We may never know who made or first wore this beautifully printed nineteenth century day dress from Newcastle. But a close look at its construction tells us the […]

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Made to Order

If you had visited Morisset Psychiatric Hospital in the 1930s you may have met Jean Pursehouse wearing this standard-issue nurse’s uniform—a long-sleeved, blue-denim dress, with white buttons and collar. On the long shift from sunrise to sunset, nurses like Jean rolled up the stiff sleeves of these, heavily starched, hardwearing uniforms to get on with […]

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Merle’s Little Black-out Curtain Dress

This empire waist dress, which has a cross-over bodice and matching bolero jacket, was made from a former blackout curtain used during WWII. After ‘Victory in the Pacific’ was declared in August 1945, the curtain was salvaged by Merle Hadley (1926-2015) from her childhood home in Sydney. The dress was machine-sewn by Merle in 1956, […]

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