Kalgoorlie and the Eastern Goldfields

This week I pay my second residency visit to the goldfields, when I return to Kalgoorlie for several days of activities. My previous trip, just over a month ago, was shared with my husband.


Carrying our bedroom on our roof, we slept at secluded spots such as Rowles Lagoon, north of Coolgardie, where we shared the dawn with abundant birds, a lone kangaroo, and the echoing presence of the many generations of indigneous Australians for whom it provided succour prior to European settlement.

Scattered all over the goldfields there is evidence of fleeting European settlement. Sunlight glistens brightly on patches of broken glass and china scattered incongrously amidst the red dirt.


Removed from this environment, do these artefacts become something different?



This is an idea to explore, I think.

Spreading the word

The first week of June was Heritage Week here in WA - a time for the state's many local heritage organisations to highlight local history. I was pleased to be invited to be part of the festivities.

Last Sunday I gave a talk as part of the Historical Society of Cockburn's heritage week celebration at Azelia Ley Homestead Museum.


This historic homestead holds a wonderful collection telling the story of life as it was in the early days of settlement. Museum curator Carolyn Mutzig is supported by a dedicated band of people who give their time to ensure local history is not lost to future generations. I urge you to pay them a visit if you get the chance.


The homestead has some lovely examples of quilts and everyday clothing. These inspired my talk, in which I shared quilts and clothes from my own collection drawn from many different cultures.


Emma Knight, seen here taking a closer look at the careful mending in a Japanese under-kimono, was one of my most attentive audience members. I heard from Carolyn that Emma and her sister Aimee make a valuable contribution to the life of the museum. It's great to see younger members of the community getting involved in caring for and sharing our history.

Two days prior to my visit to Azelia Ley Homestead, I participated in the Fremantle Heritage Festival as guest of the Fremantle History Society and the Fremantle Local History Group. I spoke about the port's significance for me as the point of arrival and departure for three generations of my family, and recounted personal and family memories of these comings and goings. I shared some of my textiles whose working class origins connect them to Fremantle, and also talked about my residency.

At 2pm this Saturday, June 20, I will be showing some of my old textiles at the Mundaring Arts Centre and all are welcome.

quilts made for travelling rough

Since I wrote about the waggas I found at the museum in Rockingham, another one has turned up much closer to home. The Royal WA Historical Society's curator of costume, Jo Pearson, has recently accessioned a wagga into the collection.


The wagga is made from two layers of suiting samples. It is quilted by machine around the edges,

but a large portion of the centre of remains unquilted and forms an envelope which could be filled with newspapers, hay, grass or whatever else could be found to add some extra warmth.

Jo put the wagga on display in time for the Society's May 19 Open Day. The donor, Fr Ted Doncaster, accepted Jo's invitation to attend and I was pleased to meet him and hear the wagga's story.


The wagga was apparently made for the Reverend John Frewer by a kindly parishioner, during his time as a Bush Brother in the 1920s. He would have been grateful for its warmth on cold nights camping out in the Great Southern, as he travelled around by horseback or horse and buggy, then later in a car called Lizzie. He was not likely to have needed it so much on his subsequent appointment as Bishop of North West Australia. Yet the wagga was one of few possessions which he retained all his life, so it must have been special to him.

I also brought along some quilts to display at the open day. These came from diverse cultures, but all had the common purpose of making do with available materials to create something useful. One of these quilts bears a strong resemblance to the wagga, and is from the same era.

This American handman's quilt is one of my precious possessions, a gift from US friend and colleague Rosemary Claus-Gray. It would have been used by a handyman travelling the highways and byways looking for odd jobs, and would have kept him warm at night as he slept in the barn or by the roadside. The quilt is made from recycled suiting and furnishing fabrics, and is lined with old shirt fabrics.


Open Day visitor Rosemary Fitzgerald, from Museums Australia WA, was intrigued by the one edge of the quilt (the blue one on the left) which was made of soft cotton flannel cloth instead of wool, so that the rough woollen cloth would not scratch the handyman's neck as he slept.

Rockingham visit

On Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting the members of the Rockingham District Historical Society, in their museum close to the beach to which I made many childhood excursions. This was the first of a number of talks I will be giving for the Historical Society's affiliated societies as part of the residency public programme. It was a great opportunity to talk with interesting and knowledgable people and a chance to learn more about local history.


Rockingham museum has some wonderful displays of the early days. I was surprised to discover group settlements were sited in the Rockingham area, much closer to Perth than I'd realised. Among the collection relating to group settlements was a familiar cupboard made of recycled kerosene cans.


Best of all, I found a domestic 'wagga' quilt, a utilitarian covering made from a variety of old clothes patched together.


This detail of the wagga shows the coat front with button holes. My own grandmother made a similar quilt during the depression using her old coat.