Department of Health – National Fitness Office (Sports & Recreation) – Historical Press Release Photo - Empire Youth Day & Royals on Tour CollectionDepartment of Health – National Fitness Office (Sports & Recreation) – Historical Press Release Photo - Empire Youth Day & Royals on Tour Collection

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.

1880s women's dress featured tightly fitting bodices with very narrow sleeves and high necklines, often trimmed at the wrists with white frills or lace.Beige coloured silk top with narrow mauve stripes. The top has a piped mandarin collar. The top has satin trimming. The bodice is badly stained.women's clothing, australian fashion, costumes, bodices

2002, 325, steve cummins

1985, 232, director doug bennett, musical, heidelberg theatre company inc.

1983, 220, director ian brown, heidelberg theatre company inc

1980, 198, director ian brown, heidelberg theatre company inc

1978, 184, city of heidelberg repertory group, heidelberg theatre company inc, directed by ian brown

1977, 180, city of heidelberg repertory group, heidelberg theatre company inc, directed by ian brown

np, illustrated.

27 pages, illustrated.

Ill, maps, p.227.non-fictionA regimental history of the 27th Battalion 1st AIFworld war 1914-1918 - regimental histories - australia, world war 1914-1918 - campaigns - france, world war 1914-1918 -campaigns - gallipoli

Army leather gun case with strap, buckle and leather carry handle. 2 brass loops for carry strapH.J.Stone

Black and white copy of original photograph of two children sitting in wicker chairs. Girl on the left wearing a belted dress and a light coloured bow in her hair. Boy wearing light coloured short pants and jacket.roy brown, vera brown

Black and white copy of original photograph of a man in a soldier's uniform, holding a rifle and standing in front of a tent.brown, george brown, world war 1914-1918

Black and white copy of original photograph of a man posing for a studio photograph wearing pants and dark coloured jacket with a high white collar, tie, buttonhole and kerchief.david brown

Found in cellar of building formerly Barr's drapery in Sussex St, Linton. Donated to society by building's owner Fiona Watson.Pair of leather and fabric ladies' button boots. Manufacturer's mark and size "3" on soles. Thirteen buttons on each boot.shoes, boots

Prior to the idea of canes being painted white in the 1930's, vision impaired people used canes of various colours and styles to assist them. This walking stick is engraved with the initials 'GC' and would have been an expensive item given the ornate metal topper. The wood is in good condition and looks little used, particularly given the lack of a protective tip at the base.Wooden walking stick with ornate metal topperThe letters 'GC' are engraved into a metal plate on the head of the stick.assistive devices, orientation and mobility, white cane

Another example of a painted white cane, made from a tree branch stripped of lateral buds, but with a metal tip indicating its primary use as a navigation device rather than a support stick.Wooden white cane with crooked handle with metal tipassistive devices, white caned

Set of four clear-fronted plastic A4 binders containing family history research printouts and photocopies.

Patrolling the Mekong Delta's Bassac River in hot-rodded cabin cruisers called PBRs, the U.S. Navy's brown-water sailors in 1967 were like tigers waiting for the cage door to open. Then Lieutenent Commander Don Sheppard cut them loose.vietnam war, 1961-1975 - riverine operations - american, u.s. navy, brown-water sailors, mekong delta, bassac river