Ora Banda

My father was born in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields in 1915, in the town of of Ora Banda where his father was postmaster.


I didn't get back to Ora Banda on my most recent trip to Kalgoorlie, but the town DID play a part in my visit nonetheless. Eileen Moroney, a member of the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society which hosted my visit, grew up in Ora Banda. Eileen kindly shared with me information she has gathered about Ora Banda's history. Her own story actually links to my father's.

With the town's population diminished and most of its buildings gone, the local post office and telephone exchange was run by her family from their home. Eileen still has the tags, twine and sealing wax used to seal the post bags sent between Perth and Ora Banda.

Eileen also gave me tangible memories to bring home in the form of precious gifts.

She grew up with this old eiderdown, which had worn out and was put in the shed to await recovering. However, the moths found it and when she went to retrieve it a month ago, only two squares retained their feathers, as the moths had eaten all the others away. Hearing that I collect and treasure old damaged fabric, Eileen valiantly cleaned it and presented it to me, and I suspect her washing machine will never be the same again.


There were some great holes with wonderful edges. Eileen was somewhat flabergasted when I declared my intention to use a some cloth from her eiderdown in the artwork I'm making for an upcoming Kalgoorlie Museum exhibition.

She was even more flabergasted when I declared my desire to take home her other gift, which I think she had brought along only to tease me.

This old potato sack had been hanging on a hook in the chook yard for a year or so. The combination of goldfields dust and rain had stiffened it like a board.


I had to repack my bags to fit it in, but now it lives in my courtyard, along with other goldfields memorabilia.

Odd couple

This odd couple occupy a corner of the costume storage room at Stirling House.

There they stand, patiently waiting, until they are deemed the best fit for a garment about to be put on display in the Society's museum.


In this tiny space dwell many treasures. Packed to the rafters, in large storage boxes, are garments relevant to Western Australia's history.

The museum display is changed periodically, and this process is currently underway. It is a busy time in the costume room as boxes are shifted so that items removed from display can be repacked and stored and fresh items selected by Hon Costume Curator Jo Pearson are unpacked and prepared for display.


This is an exciting time to be around, as Jo offers me the chance to see inside these boxes as garments are removed or replaced. I was very happy to be reacquainted with this beaded dress which first drew me to the Society's doorstep a year ago whilst it was on display. Its beauty and careful conservation had been described to me so enthusiastically that I simply had to see it for myself.


Here is a highly magnified detail of the tiny stitches used to support the damaged areas of the dress on a fabric carefully dyed to match. Conservation is not meant to hide the marks left by time. So the missing areas of the original fabric are still clearly visible, telling the story of many hours of strenuous exertion on the dance floor.

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.

A close encounter

Earlier this week I was fortunate to be invited by the Society's Hon Curator Costume, Jo Pearson, to join a group of embroiderers who had an appointment to view the collection under Jo's expert guidance. The visitors (and I) received a welcome bonus in the form of an encounter with conservator Patricia Moncrief who arrived bearing a large storage box containing a newly conserved garment.


Patricia, on the left, unpacked the garment to give Jo Pearson, second from the right, a report on the work she'd done to conserve this important historical garment. Part of the Lovegrove Collection donated to the Society in the 1030's, the dress was worn by Elinor Eliot at her wedding to Dr Lovegrove circa 1869.


Patricia explains the process of making a 'soft sculpture' padded shape to support the garment.


A detail of the garment's sleeve


The neckline of the bodice resting on its soft sculpture padding


Returning the garment to its storage box.

Since I last posted I've been in the Eastern States teaching, but before I flew out I had a session with the Society's Honorary Librarian, Jill Maughan. Jill kindly taught me how to use Collections Mosaic, the computer program via which information about items in the Society's collection can be accessed. This cleverly designed search engine can find the needle in the proverbial haystack when in the hands of an experienced user.

Since my return I've been getting to know Mosaic, and found it very helpful as I applied the logical left side of my brain to locating some specific information. However, the problem my right brain has with with this sort of logical search process is that in order for it to succeed, you need to know what you are looking for.

My more flighty right brain prefers to browse until it finds stimulation, not knowing exactly what it is looking for until it finds it. Fearing that Mosaic is not designed for such silliness, I thought our time together might be limited. However, I found that Mosaic's layered research tags allow me to browse through the collection until I find an area of interest, then to look at all the items listed in that area. This has led to some fascinating discoveries warranting further investigation.

Residency underway

Last Tuesday the Historical Society held a morning tea for its volunteers to thank them for their contribution over the last year, and to introduce them to me.

That's me on the left, listening to Lennie McCall, Chair of Council and residency project officer. On the table in front of me are a selection of the family textiles which set me on the path that eventually led to this residency. (You'll hear more on these in my next post).

I had the pleasure of meeting more than fifty of the volunteers who serve the Society so well. I also met the President of the Society, Robert Nicholson. Here he is talking to Lennie McCall and Jane King, executive officer of Museums Australia WA.

It was a chance meeting and conversation with Jane which led me to the Society's doorstep. I'm very grateful to Jane both for her initial recommendation and her ongoing encouragement. Lennie, from the moment I approached her, has been enthusiastic and supportive. It took a huge amount of work on her part to make this residency happen, so the launch of the residency was certainly a joint celebration.

I spoke briefly about my plans for the residency, and shared the stories of the family textiles I had brought along. Then everyone enjoyed a wonderful morning tea, being served here by Trudi and Lesley.