Standing in front of this portrait of Queen Victoria you might wonder why there are vertical lines running through it but stepping to either side solves this mystery. A step to the right reveals a portrait of Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and a step to the left reveals a portrait of his wife, […]
Fashionable in its day, this travelling trunk certainly saw a lot of the world during its lifetime. Its journey began when it was purchased in Bombay, India, by Beatrix ‘Trixie’ Straw (1906-1985) and her husband, Arthur ‘Jack’ Straw (1893-1983), for their honeymoon in Paris and Venice. Trixie and Jack were married at the British Embassy […]
This handwritten letter was discovered among the contents of Beatrix Edith Straw’s travelling trunk, an object donated to the Woolpack Inn Museum in Holbrook. Beatrix, better known as Trixie, was born in Parel (a suburb of Bombay, India) on 2 July 1906. She grew up as the eldest of eight children in Parel and later […]
The Macarthur Cloak, this striking scarlet-coloured opera coat, was made in England in 1817 from Australian-grown merino wool. It was commissioned by the Macarthur family of Elizabeth Farm, near Parramatta, Sydney. John Macarthur (1767-1834) is widely recognised as a pioneer of the Australian wool industry, though he first worked in the colony as a soldier […]
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