This 3D mixed-media assemblage, made from wood, fabric, paint, resin, paper, and aluminium, was created by identical twins known as The Strutt Sisters in 2012. Depicting a large group of musicians performing on a stage with a city backdrop, the colours, images, and design is reflective of the sisters’ fascination and interest in the aesthetics […]
After returning home each evening, weary from work, Morpeth furniture craftsman Joseph George White (1822-1912) probably followed the fashion of his fellow Victorian era gentlemen. Retreating to a quiet room in his home after dinner, he probably put on a smoking jacket and this smoking cap. But did he then light up a pipe and […]
You see some of them get up there now and they’ve got holes in their jeans! Argh. —Zeta Burns For this yodelling cowgirl, it’s no secret that looking her best on stage is almost as important as sounding good. Zeta recalls a teacher’s advice to, “Always dress the part, always dress nicely. Even if you get […]
The steam engine hummed and clanged to a steady beat and the machines buzzed and whizzed. Fine sawdust scented the air and coated every surface. From the 1860s, J.G. White’s furniture factory in Morpeth was equipped with all the newly invented, thoroughly modern power tools, saving countless hours of laborious hand sawing and carving. It […]
By the age of ten Rocky Cameron (1944-2016) was already an experienced performer. He had ‘cut his teeth’ on the greater-Sydney radio circuit – 2UW, 2KY, 2GB & 2KA – but even with those successes he still felt his nerves swell. Following the introduction of television to Australia, Rocky made it to the stage of […]
It may surprise you to learn that dollhouses were not originally intended as childhood playthings. The first examples of European dollhouses, or dockenhaus in German, come from the seventeenth century. Meaning ‘miniature house’, these were intended for adults and served as a physical display of wealth, class, and privilege. In Mother (Dolls House), artist Michael […]
With razor blade in hand, working on a small section, the heritage painter carefully removed the outer layers of paint on a column in the chapel at Maitland Gaol. It was 2005, and Gordon Sauber, the Gaol Museum’s Coordinator was curious to identify the room’s original colour scheme. Built in 1867-8, the chapel remained in […]
When the Morpeth Courthouse was built in 1862 it didn’t quite meet expectations. Notably, its striking edifice was without a clock. Since only the wealthiest residents could afford their own clocks, there was a pressing need for a communal clock, complete with an hourly chime, loud enough to be heard throughout the town and beyond. […]
Mothers regularly pushed their prams up the ramp of the local courthouse in 1950s Morpeth. But it was not a judge and jury that they were to there to see—it was a baby health nurse. In this unlikely place from 1954, about ten years after the the building had been closed as a court house, […]
On sunny days, this leadlight windowpane once created shafts of ruby, gold and turquoise light that pierced the darkness inside St James’ Anglican Church, Morpeth. Since the building’s construction in 1837-40, it had been part of a lancet (pointed arch) window installed in the tower, on either the northern or southern side. A lack of […]
Museums & Galleries of NSW acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands that comprise the state now known as NSW.
We pay respect to them as First Nations people with a continuing connection to land, place, waters and community
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that this site contains stories, images, voices, and video of people who have died.
Some material may contain terms that reflect common usage of the period in which it was written or recorded but may not be considered appropriate today. Such terms do not reflect the views of Museums and Galleries of NSW and are provided only to reflect historical context.