Clothing. Child's white linen waisted nightdress. Scooped round neckline with casing and lace trim. V shaped broiderie lace insert below neckline with 2 cm fabric trim on each side. open at waist. Skirt tightly gathered into casing at waist. Skirt has inverted V shaped insert at centre front from waist to hem. Overlay on each side with decorative stitching. Item is trimmed with two rows of 1.5cm lace. Double layer cap sleeves of broiderie lace with scalloped edges.Centre back opening (33cm) fastened with cotton tape ties at neckline and waist. Fold over collars at back neckline (12cmX 4cm).costume, children's, child's nightdress

Clothing. Child's cream coloured silk nightdress. Wide scooped neckline with casing and lace trim. Skirt tightly gathered into casing at waist. Centre back opening (27cm) fastened with cotton tape ties at neckline and waist, (V shaped lace insert on bodice front). Skirt has inverted V shape embroidered insert at centre front from waist to hem. Item finished with decorative stitching. Raglan set short sleeves trimmed with pleated fabric.costume, children's, child's cream coloured silk nightdress

Child's white cotton sleeveless Nightdress. Neck and arm hole edged in white crochet lace and triangle pattern of pin tucking and crochet lace.costume, children's

Fine white cotton girl's night dress. Yoke at front and back. Full length back opening fastened with tie at neckline. Back yoke has three vertical pintucks on each side of opening. Front yoke has vertical pattern of pintucks and embroidered fabric with horizontal section at waist. Sleeveless nightdress overlays of embroidered fabric attached to sides of yoke to form cap sleeves over shoulders. U shaped neckline has casing with cotton tape tie. Gathered skirt attached below yokes. Finished with French seams. Lower edge of night dress trimmed with embroidered fabric with scalloped edge. Note in box with garment ''The child's nightgown is about 60 years old and was made by Mrs. Antoinette Catling for her eldest daughter''. Undated. Not attached. This is the most probable garment.costume, female, white cotton girl's nightdress

Made by the cousin of Brighton local Olga Black. The cousin gave her the doll in 1937, when Olga was around seven years old. Olga Maria Black was born in Melbourne in 1930, the daughter of Ithacan migrants Constantine and Toula Mavrokefalos. Constantine first emigrated to Australia in 1902, returning to Greece circa 1912-13 to serve his home country in the Balkan Wars. Toula's family had left Ithaca for Romania when she was only six months old, but she happened to be visiting the island at the very time that Constantine arrived, fresh from the war. Within three weeks they were married, and when Constantine returned to Melbourne in 1914 his new bride came with him. Constantine had trained as an accountant, but his qualifications were not recognised in Australia. Changing his surname to the Anglicised "Black", he started off working in his older brother Dionysios's cafés before going into business on his own. In 1917 he opened the Paris Residential Café at 54-56 Swanston Street, which offered both dining and accommodation. The business saw some years of success, but did not survive the Great Depression. Constantine died in 1944. Olga's mother Toula learned to sew as a child, while growing up in the Romanian village of Brila. She developed her skills making lace and embroidering items for her trousseau. Some of the linen she embroidered had been woven from flax on Ithaca by her own grandmother, Efstathia. During the Depression, when money was scarce, Toula embroidered at home, doing work for a factory in Flinders Lane. Using a cotton reel, a threepence and a sixpence she created and embroidered designs on hundreds of blouses. Olga spent her preschool days sitting at the table where her mother worked. Toula would involve Olga by allowing her to help choose the colour combinations. Toula lived with Olga in Brighton until her death in 1976. Olga inherited her mother's sewing skills. She re-invented some of Toula’s trousseau nightdresses and skilfully altered other clothing, making dresses which she wore around Brighton for many years.Handmade painted wooden bead doll representing a sailor. Cream coloured body and limbs and pink head. The body is made from one long oval bead and the limbs from small round beads.doll, child's toy, childhood, sailor, olga black

The equipment items in this photograph are loaned out to Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) patient's to use in their homes. They are returned to RDNS and sterilized, or cleaned with disinfectant, whichever is appropriate, once they are no longer required. The material items are given to patient's as required. Many of these items are made and donated by RDNS Auxiliary members. From its inception in 1885, the two Trained nurses (Nurses) of the Melbourne District Nursing Society (MDNS) worked in the now CBD, ie from Spencer Street to Spring Street and from Victoria Parade to Flinders Street. At that time they walked the streets and lane ways amid the slums of inner Melbourne carrying their nursing bags containing lotion, ointments, powders, liniment, bandages, dressings, a case of spirits, and the Nurse's own clean apron, soap and small towel. They supplied equipment on loan, such as earthenware hot water bottles, splints, urinals, bed pans, bed cradles, feeding mugs, and air-cushions as well as providing blankets and clean bed linen, and nightdresses and clothes as necessary. The Society was at the forefront of health care and continued to liaise with Doctors as the Society expanded. The Nurses provided high quality nursing care to a range of people, often in destitute situations, some lying on rags on the floor as they had no bed, others with just a bed and maybe a thin blanket, a chair and nothing else. Their ages ranged from babes, children, adults to the elderly. The Nurses gave medications as ordered, dressed wounds e.g. to the injured, and surgical cases, and to those with leg ulcers; attended to patients with ‘surgical ailments’ such as ‘hip disease’; gave care to those with acute illnesses such as bronchitis, pleurisy, pneumonia, measles, and scarlet fever, as well as those with chronic illnesses such as consumption (tuberculosis), heart disease, arthritis, cancer, debility, neuritis and paralysis. They educated their patients, and their Carers, in the curing and prevention of disease; Over the years items were given and equipment was loaned and demonstrated to patients, and if appropriate, to their family members to enable them to care for their loved ones in their homes. The Trained nurses had the rehabilitation of their patients in the forefront of their minds to ensure they were able to live as independently as possible in their own homes. As the years passed the Trained nurses changed from being called 'Nurse' to 'Sister' and the Society changed its name. In the 1970s, now with Royal patronage, and known as Royal District Nursing Service ( RDNS), they contracted a Private and then employed, a Physiotherapist who taught RDNS Sisters the correct transferring techniques, including the use of a hoist when this became available. RDNS Sisters taught and used these techniques in patient’s homes to undertake safe transfer of the patient and to reduce physical strain on RDNS nursing staff and family members. Each RDNS Centre had a room or shed where equipment for loan was kept, and Headquarters also kept additional equipment which could be transported to Centres as required. This black and white photograph shows some of the equipment loaned, along with some to be given, to Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) patients as required. Rear L-R - a white long nightdress with dark embroidery and buttons on the front and embroidery on the edge of the short sleeves. Next are two wooden bath seats; a square metal commode with lid and with its round legs extended to form handles on the left and right sides. A folded dark and white striped crocheted rug hangs over one of the handles. In the centre L-R, is a metal bed cradle, a metal 4 prong walking stick, bed pans, male urinal, stack of nappies with a white child's knitted jumper hanging over them, and a doona. In the front, L-R is a grey blanket, dark coloured bed socks, a sheepskin with a white smocked baby dress sitting on it, and a white babies nightgown on a clear plastic covered white bundle. A black mat sits under these items and a cream brick wall is in the background. Barry Sutton LS 47royal district nursing service, rdns, rdns equipment, rdns auxiliaries

'N. Batten' name tag on the inside of the back opening.A long white cotton and lace child's nightgown with lace trimmed sleeves. It has long cotton ties at the waist, an open placket at the back with a cotton tie.'N. Batten' name tag on the inside of the back opening.nightdresses, nightwear

A long white cotton and lace child's nightgown with sleeves with lace trim. It has long cotton ties at the waist and an open placket at the back with cotton ties.nightdresses, nightwear

McNamara collection Petticoat was made by Isobel from a nightgown (possible from her granddaughter's).- Cotton petticoat made from adult nightdress - Lace (broderie anglaise) trim - Pin tucked front - Back placket with press stud fasteningNilmcnamara collection, cotton, child's clothing, handmade