This item is from the "Barone" Collection. "Barone" (also known as "Seaview") was a stately Brighton home built at 9 Moule Avenue prior to 1855 and demolished in 1986. The house's residents included Edward Elgin Browne (during 1859-72), a Melbourne tea merchant, and the family and descendants of retired Scottish Army captain Archibald Black (during the period 1880-1970). Its neighbors included “St Ninians” owned by the Ward Cole family, “Seacombe” owned by the Moule family, and the home of James Grahame and his family. The items in the "Barone" collection were largely donated by two of the house's later owners, Mrs Doris Halkyard and Mrs Brian Brandt. Brighton Historical Society records indicate this bonnet was worn at the death of Archibald's widow, Isabella Black, in 1912. Other records held place Isabella Black's death in 1915. Navy silk velvet mourning bonnet with black silk train, circa 1915. The bonnet’s shape is created by a horseshoe shaped rib that sits across the crown of the head and shapes in to cover and conceal the back of the head. Across the crown, the bonnet features a navy silk velvet bow. The veil is constructed from a very fine black corded silk and hangs to approximately just below the wearer’s bottom. mourning bonnet, barone, seaview, brighton, isabella black

Heubach German porcelain doll. Head badly cracked and taped together. The face is OK. Doll’s eyes are loose. Eyes need to be reset. All parts are separate. Composition body in need of repair. Open mouth. One tooth. Pierced nostrils. Clothed in red cotton drawers with long legs. Not original. Knitted singlet – badly moth eaten. White lawn dress with lace. Tied together with mourning ribbon. Crocheted bonnet lined with silk. Ernst Heubach was a company in Köppelsdorf, Thuringia, Germany, that manufactured porcelain-headed bisque dolls from 1885 onwardsHeubach

During the reign of Queen Victoria, whose long and conspicuous grief over the death of her husband, Prince Albert, appropriate dress for men and women for the period of mourning was strictly prescribed and rigidly adhered to. Widows were expected to wear special clothes to indicate that they were in mourning for up to four years after the death, although a widow could choose to wear such attire for the rest of her life. To change the costume earlier was considered disrespectful to the deceased and, if the widow was still young and attractive, suggestive of potential sexual promiscuity. Those subject to the rules were slowly allowed to re-introduce conventional clothing at specific time periods; such stages were known by such terms as "full mourning", "half mourning", and similar descriptions. For half mourning, muted colours such as lilac, grey and lavender could be introduced.. Special caps and bonnets, usually in black or other dark colours, went with these ensembles. There was special mourning jewellery, often made of jet. By the late 20th century, this no longer applied, and black had been widely adopted by women in cities as a fashionable colour. A lady's full length black fine wool dress with pleated bodice and skirt. A beaded detachable collar sits over the dress forming a V shape back and front and is attached by hooks and eyes on right shoulder . Centre front from neck to point is a row of small black circular sequins. clothing, dressmaking, craftwork, cheltenham, market gardeners, pioneers, early settlers, moorabbin, bentleigh