Frances Burke: Designer of Modern Textiles Australia’s most influential and celebrated textile designer of the mid-20th century, Frances Burke (1904-1994), employed Australian native flora, garden flowers, marine subjects, Indigenous culture and increasingly, abstract motifs in her stunning modern fabrics. A confident, determined designer and businesswoman; Burke made the shift from fine art to design in 1937. While she began by designing dress fabrics for Melbourne’s fashionable Georges Department store, printing them on linen using lino blocks, she was an early adopter of the screen-printing process and during the war years began printing on cotton. Burke’s furnishing fabrics took their place in influential modern buildings Australia-wide through collaborations with leading architects and interior designers. They included Robin Boyd’s 1949 House of Tomorrow, Roy Grounds’ Quamby flats, Guilford Bell’s Royal Hayman Island Resort for Ansett Airlines, and Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson’s Canberra Civic Centre Theatre. In the post-war period, Burke made regular trips to the United States and Europe, on her return advising homeowners and manufacturers on the latest trends in products, colours and home design in lectures and interviews. At New Design her fabric showroom and interior design consultancy Burke introduced furniture by emerging designers Clement Meadmore and Grant Featherston in the early 1950s and presented local and imported homewares, mostly from the United States. She was enthusiastic about the convenient and comfortable lifestyle experienced by ordinary American women. Her fabrics and advice were regularly featured in Australian Home Beautiful, Australian House and Garden and the newspapers of the day. Some of Burke’s designs had remarkable longevity. Tiger Stripe (1938) for example, continued to be produced in a wide range of colours until 1970 and Crete (1946) remained a popular choice for interiors into the 1960s. Drawing from a rich variety of sources including Indigenous culture in Goanna (c.1954) and Pacific Island tapa cloth designs in Bird and Tree (1940), Burke also looked to Japan in designs such as Plum Blossom (1948) and Zen (1965). She loved exploring the potential of native flora, seen in designs including Waratah (1955) and Flannel Flower (1955), while garden flowers were the source for many other designs including Belladonna (1940), Periwinkle (n.d.) and Rose (1947). Burke’s clever interplay of a single striking printed colour with lively gestural lines revealing the white base fabric, gave her designs a vibrancy that characterised the optimistic post-war era. This can be seen in Burke’s fabrics for Hayman Island including Angel Fish and Seapiece (both 1949) which expressed the freshness and excitement of the luxurious new tropical resort and led to further commissions. Burke’s three decades in business (1937-1970) were an unparalleled success in the story of Australian design. Her fabrics have been collected by the NGA, the Powerhouse Museum, NGV, RMIT Design Archives and Sydney Living Museums in addition to Ararat Gallery TAMA. Written by Nanette Carter and Robyn Oswald-Jacobs.

White table cloth - rose and green designmanchester, table linen

Use: Domestic. Household trimmingBobbin lace edging

Long white nightdress with short sleeves. Made in one piece with body of gown. White embroidery on front and sleeves. Scalloped edging on neck and sleeves finished with crochet binding.costume, female nightwear

Framed linen tapestry Souvenir of Eqypt, God Save The King and Arabic writing

Use: Domestic. Household trimmingBobbin lace edging. Sample

Textiles. Gold coloured metal mesh handbag with metal frame with twist clasp. Two V shaped points at loqwer edge with 2 cm mesh fringeing. Metal chain link carrying handle. Not lined.textiles, domestic, ladies gold coloured metal mesh handbag

Collection of Eight Doylies. Including 4 white two sandwich one cream one coloured. One round cream linen, pink flowers. One white plate carrier. With orange trim .whitestawell clothing material

Princess lace flower mat made in Bruges from collection of Nan WarnerCream lace square with ornate lace motifs in each corner and lace edged.lace, handmade, bruges, nan warner

This hand-knitted, white double-bed bedspread and matching round cushion were hand-made by Vera Giles. The process took her nine-and-a-half months. She presented it to Flagstaff Hill to be part of the Giles Collection. There are many 19th-century items of furniture, linen and crockery donated to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village by Vera and Aurelin Giles. The items are associated with the Giles Family and are known as the “Giles Collection”. These items mostly came from the simple home of Vera’s parents-in-law, Henry Giles and his wife Mary Jane (nee Freckleton), whose photos are in the parlour. They married in 1880. Henry Giles was born at Tower Hill in 1858. He was a labourer on the construction of the Breakwater before leaving in 1895 to build bridges in N.S.W. for about seven years. Mary Jane was born in 1860 at Cooramook. She attended Mailor’s Flat State School where she was also a student teacher before, as a family legend has it, she became a governess at “Injemiara” where her grandfather, Francis Freckleton, once owned land. Henry and Mary’s family of six, some of whom were born at Mailor’s Flat and later children at Wangoom, lived with their parents at Wangoom and Purnim west, where Henry died in 1933 and Mary Jane in 1940.The Giles family collection has social significance at a local level because it illustrates the level of material support the Warrnambool community gave to Flagstaff Hill when the Museum was established. The handmade items were knitted in the late 20th century using a craft and design that augment the late-19th to early 20th-century furnishings where they are displayed.Hand knitted white cotton bedspread and cushion with knitted floral pattern. Items are both part of the Giles Collection. flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, knitted bedspread, knitting, bedspread, giles collection, henry giles, vera giles, tower hill, cooramook, warrnambool breakwater, mailor’s flat, wangoom, manchester, cushion

Elizabeth Hogan was born at Inglewood. She married Gus Gervasoni of Daylesford. Their only child, John Hogan Gervasoni, weas born at Daylesford on 29 September 1929. Lace edged pillow case for a babies crib. It was made by Elizabeth Gervasoni (Hogan), and used for her son, John Hogan Gervasoni). The lace has been hand stitched onto the fabric. elizabeth hogan, elizabeth gervasoni, bess gervasoni, pillow, john hogan gervasoni

Machine made lace "Chemical" oval lace motif. Cotton thread embroidered onto a base fabric which is later dissolved away.

Bette Jones CollectionCream crotchet square cake doyley with diamond design with the words 'A Merry Xmas'.handcrafts, crocheting or crochet work

A silk cream handkerchief with 4cm wide hem and embroidered 'H' in corner decorated with leaves and eyelets in cream.costume accessories, male

A commemorative Textile made by a group of volunteers to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. The quilt has a green border and various panels which have been stitched in by the sub branches. 0077.1 is a matching fabric wrap/sheet for storing and transporting the quilt.VVAA Victorian Branch 2016 - on the top. "Honour the Dead but Fight like hell for the living" on the bottom.v v a a – victorian branch, textile, quilt

Crochet Doily with Crown and George VI 1932 in the designhandcrafts, needlework, civic mementoes, royal souvenirs

Square doyley cut work embroidery - hand embroidery around edge.handcrafts, needlework

Rug believed to have been used in Fortuna Villa. 1.27cm x 1.96cm. Fringed ends. Possibly silk and jute materials. Multi coloured, predominately blue, yellow with pink and black. Intricate floral design.textiles, domestic

Standing proud, still here, the spirit of ten ancestral matriarchs adorned in contemporary ceremonial cloaks. Representing our women past, present and future, her Spirit, our culture, our Country (spelt with a capital for its importance and this is part of First Peoples protocols on acknowledging Country, our strength, our resilience and healing towards a sustainable future. The murnong was one of the main food sources for First Peoples before colonisation as it grew right across Wadawurrung Dja. The introduction of the sheep and cattle saw the murnong eaten roots and all and it quickly became less plentiful. The tubers were eaten raw or roasted on a fire. Water could be added to make a paste for small children to eat. The woman’s wooden digging stick that was used to gather and harvest plants was often buried with the woman for her afterlife and is considered sacred women’s knowledge. All parts of the plants and trees were and still are honoured as sacred medicine, healing plants and bush food knowledge.Yellow flower and female figure motif on black background on outer cloak, black and white diamond, and circle design in lining. Solid black trimming. Cloak is machine sewn and handstitched with hand stitching on shoulder seam.deanne gilson, wadawurrung dja, first nations art, cloak, murnong

The Otways Quilt is believed to have originated with the Perkins family, landholders in the Beech Forest area. Some of the names or initials on the quilt have been tentatively identified with other farmimg families in the same district.A rectangular quilt hand embroidered in white on 20 square panels, with the names or initlals of settlers in the Otway district, and surrounded with an edging of floral embroidery. It is made of polished cotton backed with cotton sheeting.quilt, beech forest, otway, needlework, perkins

The wedding dress was worn by Amy Wilton for her marriage at St John's Presbyterian Church. Photograph (media attached) shows bride wearing the dress.This wedding dress is socially significant because of its historic connection with Warrnambool through local families that still reside in the city and contributes to the understanding of the era. It has artistic and aesthetic merit and is a good example of fashion, style and design of the era. (refer catalogue Gorgeous Garb, Buda, Castlemaine p2 and The Australian Aesthetic Wedding Dress 1822 to 2011, Bendigo Art Gallery, p 5,10,12,17)A magnolia silk velvet wedding dress worn by Amy Wilton for her marriage to Ronald Wade (born 30 September 1912) on 19 April 1937 at St John's Presbyterian Church, Spence Street, Warrnambool.wade, wilton, wedding dress, 1937

Textiles. Tri-fold black leather storage case for handkerchiefs and gloves. Silver suitcase fasteners on front. Lined with dark green silk fabric. One pocket labelled gloves (Gold lettering) and two pockets labelled Handkerchiefs (gold lettering).Gold lettering on front edge under flap, ''W. DUNKLING Bourke street Melbourne. Made in England''.textiles, domestic, handkerchief and glove case.

“Between the devil and the deep blue sea!” is a special work to me for different reasons. It was my first experience ever working with textile, and it was my first major artwork that I made and exhibited in Australia. I moved to Australia in 2011 and lived in Perth for 5 years before I moved to Melbourne in 2016. I didn’t have a chance to make many artworks when I was living in Perth and it was mainly because I needed to work full time in order to afford the living costs. Melbourne was totally different though. I moved to Melbourne after I was awarded Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) to study my PhD at RMIT University. This was a fantastic opportunity for me, not only because it helped me financially, but also because it gave me the opportunity to develop my practice and research experience. Being new in Australia and Melbourne though, I needed to familiarise myself with the art community in Australia and find ways that I can introduce myself and present my art. I knew that exhibiting in Australia will be challenging and I thought I can start with looking for opportunities like group shows and awards. The Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award was the very first one that I applied for and it was definitely a great starting point for me. It gave me the confidence to look for other opportunities and that my decision for working with the material and methods that I had no previous working experience with, was a right one. Between the devil and the deep blue sea! is about a dilemma. A dilemma where on one side there is all the memories of the past, home, family, and friends. Everything that was once a life and now is only a memory. There is the threat of death, terrorism and violence and there is no hope for a better future. On the other side, there is a better chance for staying alive, but there is nothing clear about the future. Where you go and what you will be called; A terrorist? Or someone that is there to take the jobs and money!? We are watching the news and seeing tragic accidents happening all over the world every day, but what makes us indifferent to the suffering of others was something that I became interested to learn more about it. From the beginning of my project, I was interested in discovering more about the notion of indifference and that came from my own position as an observer. I am an Iranian living in Australia. On the one hand, I am observing wars and conflicts in the Middle-East from a distance and on the other hand, from not much a distance! I am living in Australia with a great distance from the Middle-East in terms of the geographical distance and the differences in socio-political situations. On the other hand, and despite Iran’s current safe situation, there is no guarantee for a stable peace in the future. Being not here nor there, I am an observer who won’t be in peace in peaceful Australia, and can’t feel the depth of the pain for people living in war-torn countries such as Syria and Iraq. The indifference phenomena can be studied from different disciplines, however, there can not be a simple and unique explanation for its cause. Regardless of different explanations for the causes of the indifference, what I am most interested in is to explore the ways I can show the “indifference” itself. For this, I seek to focus on my simple interpretation of the phenomena, which in my mind is “seeing tragedy, not tragic.” In other words, whether the indifference is caused by information overload, or distance from the sufferer for example, people don’t feel the pain and can’t understand the conditions others in pain are experiencing. Based on this explanation, the focus of my artworks is to depict and highlight the contradiction between the pain and the indifference. In my art practice, I often use colourful and attractive materials in combination with a visual language that reference to the aftermath of tragic events of wars, to provide a symbolic representation of indifference in the form of an artwork. This is my artistic approach in explaining the notion of “indifference”, that can illustrate my ideas around “seeing tragedy, not tragic”. to give voice to my own concerns and position as an Iranian artist, I am interested in utilising visual elements from traditional arts of Persia and the Middle-East. In selecting rugs and fabrics that I use in my artworks, the weaving quality is not my concern. Moving beyond this, I am looking for features which express and underpin concepts such as antiquity, resistance, simplicity, and peace which sit in stark contrast to the terrorising and militant image of Middle Eastern people portrayed by the mainstream media. Nowruz (Persian New Year) 21 March marks the Persian New Year and the first day of spring in Iranian calendar. It’s the time of the year when all Iranians and many other Farsi speaking nationalities (Afghans, Tajiks, etc.) celebrate together. My wife and I are planning a trip to Iran for the new year holidays and it would be our first time to celebrate the new year with family and friends in Iran since 2011. It is believed that Nowruz has a long history of around 3,000 years and is rooted in Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion that predates both Christianity and Islam. Every year Iranians celebrate this very special event at different times and it’s because the exact time of the new year depends on the exact calculation of when the length of the day and the night are equal. There are many things about the Persian new year to be excited about and sitting around the Haft-Seen table (7sin) with family is with no doubt the most exciting one. Haft-Seen is a set of seven symbolic elements beginning with ‘S’ in Farsi that Iranians arrange them together to decorate a table that family sit around and celebrate the beginning of the new year. The most common items found in Haft-seen decoration are: Sabzeh: Wheat, barley, mung bean or lentil sprouts growing in a dish, Samanu: Sweet pudding made from wheat germ, Senjed: Dried Persian olive. Seer: Garlic Seeb: Apple Somāq: Sumac Serkeh: Vinegar Sekkeh: Coin that symbolise health, wealth, abundance, etc.Wangaratta Art Gallery Collection, Acquired with the assistance of Robert Salzer Foundation.A used Persian Rug that has had a motif of two heads and an explosion hand-stitched onto it.mohsen meysami, textile, rug

Textiles. Calico bag. Printed on one side in black and pink, ''BARASTOC''.''Balanced rations for stock'', ''Poultry Layers Pellets'', ''Processed at St. Arnaud'', ''25 lbs When Packed''.textiles, domestic, calico stock feed bag

Golden Square High School in the city of Bendigo, was established in temporary accommodation at Camp Hill Primary School in central Bendigo in 1960. With the completion of the new school's buildings, it moved to Golden Square in 1962, providing for Forms 1 to 6, now known as years 7 to 12. In 1978 it became a 7–10 school and was one of the original feeder schools to Bendigo Senior High School. In 1986, a Hearing Impaired Unit was established and in 1990 it underwent a name change to become Golden Square Secondary College. The Golden Square Secondary College campus closed on 28 November 2008. It merged with Kangaroo Flat and Flora Hill secondary colleges as part of the implementation of the Bendigo Education Plan. Its buildings were demolished. (Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Square_Secondary_College)Dark green short sleeved synthetic sports top with gold coloured V shaped collar. There are gold and white diagonal stripes on the collar. Symbol on the front of a soccer ball and decorative wreath with letters "SSI" and "Golden Square S C" The number % is in large print on the front and back. Made in Thailand.gssc, sports top

Textiles. Very fine linen, white in colour - (now a soft cream colour). A spoke-stitched hem stitched to join a decorative panel at the opening end. This panel forms two gracious curves, where the initials C F have been embroidered and decorated with a curvaceous three segment clover leaf. A 10 cm deep crochet frill finishes the curves. The initials C F may be those of Caterina Lamaro who married Giovanni Favaloro, or those of Caterina Lopes who married Salvatore Favaloro. A linen fabric ''envelope'' has been formed by folding the fabric and stitching one side seam. Lace frill has been machine stitched to curved edge.textiles, domestic, pair of embroidered lace pillow cases

Part of a selection of garments knitted by ‘Tina Knitwear’. Tina Knitwear was a successful made to order knitwear business in Brighton from the mid-1960s to around 2010, run by Assunta and Franco Liburti. Daughter Melissa Persi writes: Our parents Assunta (Mum) and Franco (Dad) Liburti ran a successful made to order knitwear business in Brighton from the mid-1960s to around 2010. Assunta was affectionately known to her family as Assuntina, therefore the business was named "Tina Knitwear" after her. Assunta and Franco were born in the beautiful seaside town of Terracina in Italy in 1933 and 1930 respectively. As was so common in Italy in the 1950s, Assunta who was in her late teens and early twenties learnt the intricate skills of machine knitting, dressmaking and pattern making. Franco on the other hand, learnt the building trade with his 2 brothers and specialised in bricklaying and tiling. As was so common after the war, Assunta and Franco yearned for a better life so they decided that they would get engaged and then migrate to Australia to be married and raise their family in Australia, a land of much opportunity which they no longer felt their beloved Italy held for them. Assunta migrated to Australia first in 1957 and later Franco joined her in 1958 where they were married. For the first few years, Franco (also known as Frank) worked as bricklayer /tiler on buildings such as the Robert Menzies building at Monash University in Clayton and various buildings in the Melbourne CBD. Assunta on the other hand put her machine knitting skills to use working in factories doing piece machine knitting for various knitwear companies. The hours were long, the conditions were difficult, and travel was onerous without a car. After their 2 older children were born, it was decided that dad would leave the building trade and they would start their own made to order knitwear business. That way they could work from home and raise their family together. Mum taught dad everything he needed to know so he could operate the knitwear machinery. They purchased COPPO knitting machines from Italy and a Linking machine from Germany. Initially they had a knitwear shopfront in Bay Street Brighton where a store assistant would take the orders and client’s measurements and Assunta would then make the garments from a small workshop in their home. Unfortunately, the assistants were not skilled dressmakers and often measurements and orders were incorrectly taken. Assunta being the perfectionist and highly skilled machinist that she was, decided that she needed to oversee the entire process from meeting the client, to taking their order, right thru to the fittings and completion of the garment. It therefore made sense that they should close the shop front and run their business from their own home in Brighton and hence “Tina Knitwear” was born. Together, for more than 40 years they ran their very respected and successful business and were well known in the Bayside area. They specialised in made to order knitwear for both men and women using mainly pure wool (from Patons, Wangaratta Mills, Japan and Italy) but also lurex and estacel. Over those years, many of their clients became their close friends. It wasn't unusual for clients to come to order garments and then end up in the kitchen chatting over a cup of Italian espresso coffee and homemade biscuits. Some of their clients were especially memorable and became lifelong friends. Mrs Connell was a dear friend of mum’s, each year she would buy tickets for the “Gown of the Year” fashion show. She would insist on taking Assunta and her 2 daughters so that we could see the latest fashions. Then there was their dear friend Ms Griffiths. She had been a Matron nurse at the Queen Victoria Hospital when she met my parents in the 1970s. She returned to live in New Zealand in the 1980s but came back to Melbourne every year to stay for 2 weeks with the sole purpose of visiting my parents (she adored them) and order garments. For those 2 solid weeks, mum and dad would only knit for Ms Griffiths and she would go back to New Zealand with at least 5 or 6 new outfits. I actually think she enjoyed mum’s homemade pasta almost as much as her new clothes! Over the years, my parents learnt to speak English very well given that majority of their clients were not Italian speaking. Their oldest child John born in 1960 learnt to speak English with the help of those clients who were such a big part of our childhood. Mum and dad always went above and beyond to ensure their clients were satisfied. Mum was an absolute perfectionist and it showed in her attention to detail and the quality of their beautiful work. You only need to look at the garments that have stood the test of time or speak to their clients to know that this is true. Their clients would always comment on how well their clothes would last and much of their clients came via word of mouth and recommendations. Occasionally there would be disagreements because mum had found an error in dad's knitting (either a wrong stitch or a sizing mistake mainly) and would ask him to redo a piece, he would argue back saying that it was fine, but we always knew who would win the argument and that the piece would get remade! Similarly, we recall discussions where mum would ask dad to find a particular colour of wool in the garage where the stock was kept. He would try to convince her that they were out of stock of that colour and that the client should choose a different colour. She would insist they had it and then after hours of searching, he would return into the house sheepishly holding the wool! Our childhood is full of beautiful memories of mum and dad always being present, clients coming and going, mum humming her favourite songs as she worked often late into the night and sometimes, we even fell asleep to the hum of the machinery. They put their heart and soul into "Tina Knitwear" and took pride in providing only the best quality garments for their clients. In Italian there is a saying “lei ha le mani d’oro” which literally translated means “she has hands of gold”. Franco enjoyed his work but for Assunta, it was more than just work and there is no better way to describe her skills, passion and dedication to her machine knitting… she truly did have “hands of gold”. We will forever be grateful that our parents’ life journey gave us the opportunity to live in a home filled with creativity, dedication and passion, amazing work ethic and mutual respect, lifelong friendships and a lifetime of love. Sleeveless beige vest with four front self covered buttons. knitwear, clothing, italy, migrants, brighton, knitting machine, linking machine, garments, business, family, community

Table runners were used to protect furniture such as tables or sideboards from objects placed on the furniture to stop scratching occurring.A long white cotton embroidered table runner with a floral pattern.table runners, runners, household textiles, table linen