This traditional wagga blanket was made by Mrs Eileen Pattle between 1942 and 1950. The wagga was used as everyday bedding, as Eileen and her husband had very few possessions. They boarded with a man who they called “Old Harry” in Footscray. Old Harry had recently lost his wife and looked after the young couple well. They could stay with him and use his house as their own, and all that Old Harry asked for in return was for Eileen to cook him one good meal a day. The blanket was given to Mrs Beverley (Bev) Maguire, the daughter of Eileen, when she and her husband went camping one winter. Her husband was a “mad” fisherman and on one trip on which Bev joined him, her father offered the couple his old tent, that had a wall missing, and the wagga. The wagga was much appreciated as when the couple woke in the countryside, it was freezing, and they could see snow through the missing tent wall. From then on, the tent and the wagga were theirs. The wagga saw many more camping trips until the arrival of Bev’s “lovely new lightweight and down filled sleeping bag”. The wagga was made with a “make do, waste not, want not” attitude. The wagga started as an army issued blanket. The front layer has clothing and panels of mismatched material which has been added to over time. This includes an overcoat, two knitted garments, a panel from a skirt, and a panel from Old Harry’s Trousers. It also includes a man’s sleeveless knitted vest, and a knitted pram blanket. This is all stitched together with string, and the odd button. Bev said she would love to unpick the quilt to see what else is hiding inside but has resisted the urge to do so. All these layers have made the blanket incredibly warm, and heavy. The wagga has been within Bev’s family since creation and comes into the National Wool Museum Collection after serving the family well. It was used to keep everyone warm when not camping over many a winter’s night. Beverley is now getting on in years and donated the Wagga to the National Wool Museum in 2021. Her family referred to the wagga as a “collection of rags”, indicating to her that they did not wish to inherit the blanket. The wagga started as an army issue blanket. It has been made by stitching the khaki army blanket onto a hessian rear. The front layer has clothing and panels of mismatched material. This includes an overcoat, two knitted garments, a panel from a skirt, and a panel from Old Harry’s Trousers. It also includes a man’s sleeveless knitted vest, and a knitted pram blanket. This is all stitched together with string, and the odd button. It is thought that other materials are hiding within the layers of this wagga, however, uncovering these layers would involve unpicking the quilt. The wagga is 1360 x 1880mm, sized to suit a double bed. It is a heavy blanket, originating from all its panels of mismatched reused clothing. The wagga is well worn but has lasted almost 80 years. It has holes that have been lovingly re-stitched.wagga, quilt, upcycle

Norma Dessent (the donor) was cleaning out her Mother-in-law Amy Dessent’s home, after she passed away in 1995. She came across a collection of gunny sacks for chicken feed, potatoes, and flour. Norma gave the bags to her good friend Beryl Andersen, thinking she might be able to make use of the material in her quilting. Many years later in 2001, Beryl gave Norma this quilt made in a wagga style out of the bags. This was both a great surprise and a great delight for Norma. Amy Dessent was a housewife. Her chickens were her friends, keeping her company as she worked in her renowned garden and while she cooked and maintained a beautiful home. Typically, Amy would have a dozen chickens clucking around at a time. In the style of the time, everything was kept for a possible repurposing later in life, such as these gunny sacks. The Chicken Feed Wagga was created in Ballarat by Mrs Beryl Andersen. Beryl was the inaugural president of the Hamilton Quilters Guild and is a well-known quilter. Perhaps her best-known work was the “Quilt for Hope”, a living memorial for victims of institutional church-related sexual abuse. More information about this quilt can be found on the following link. https://www.nationalquiltregister.org.au/quilts/quilt-of-hope/). The wool blanket used as a backing belonged to Beryl’s mother. Beryl’s mother married in 1930 and the blanket is thought to have been a present from this wedding, making the blanket close to a century old. Norma donated the quilt to the National Wool Museum in 2021 as a result of downsizing. She no longer had room for the quilt to hang on her wall. Before downsizing, the quilt had hung in the entryway to her home for the last two decades.Wagga style quilt made with a appliqué top layer of gunny sacks that once held chicken feed, flour, and potatoes. The insulating internal material is not known. The backing fabric is made from a cream woollen blanket. The edges are bound with a material of a red and white plaid. The gunny sacks are quilted together with a machine stitch of red thread. The sacks contain imagery pertaining to their previous use. Some sacks have an image of a chicken applied with blue, red, or green ink. Other sacks contain imagery of potatoes. While other sacks contain information “Minimum Crude Protein 14%, Minimum Crude Fat 3%, Maximum Crude Fibre 7%”. One of the sacks shows a handwritten price for a bag of chicken feed in a red ink.Numerous. See multimediaquilts, wagga, gunny sacks, upcycle

Jane McGrath made this quilt 30 years ago from a tartan fabric sample book (c.1990). It was one of her first quilts. Jane was inspired to quilt by her mother Shirley Critchley. Jane recalls her mother being a very talented quilter, with one example being the “Unpicked Jumper Wagga” which can be found within the National Wool Museum’s Collection (REG 8283). Shirley taught Jane the basics in quilting and assisted her in preparing this quilt. The quilt is backed with material from disused woollen skirts. Jane could not recall what material was used for the internal insulating fabric. Jane donated the Tartan Fabric Sample Quilt to the National Wool Museum in 2021. The quilt had been languishing in her cupboard for many years and had found its way to the op-shop pile, as her children had no desire to inherit her quilts. The top layer of the quilt consists of five distinct rows of tartan samples appliqued together. The rows of tartan samples are broken with a boarder of white, grey, and brown fabric which runs in parallel lines. This fabric is also used to bind the quilt together at the edges. The internal insulating fabric of the quilt is not known. The backing fabric is a grey coloured wool originating from disused skirts. The Tartan samples contain stripes of varying width and colour. The samples have been arranged so that the stripes run diagonal on the quilt. Many different colours have been used. The predominant colours are red and black, with lessening amounts of blue, yellow, white, green, and grey featuring. quilts, tartan fabric samples, upcycle, shirley critchley/jane mcgrath collection

This quilt was created by Ms Shirley Critchley, c.1960. it was made in a wagga style from unpicked knitted jumpers that Shirley would repurpose. Some of these jumpers were from her daughters out growing their garments, while others were from jumpers Shirley would find at opportunity stores. One of Shirley’s daughters, Jane McGrath, followed in her mother’s footsteps and begun quilting with Shirley’s guidance. One of Jane’s first quilts, the “Tartan Fabric Sample Quilt” is located within the National Wool Museum’s collection (REG 8282). Multicoloured wagga style quilt. The quilt’s top layer is made from unpicked knitted woollen jumpers. These jumpers are in a variety of colours including yellow, blue, green, and red. Some blocks are a single colour, while others have been knitted with a different secondary colour such as grey or white to give noise. The quilt has an unknown insulating fabric. It shares its backing fabric with the material used to bind the edges together. This material is a woollen blanket in a tartan pattern of a blue background with green and red lines. The quilt is sized to suit a single bed. quilts, wagga, upcycle, shirley critchley/jane mcgrath collection, woollen jumpers

The world’s most ecologically distinct bird lives in the native grasslands of Victoria - but only just. The plains-wanderer is a small bird that was once widespread across the grasslands of south-eastern Australia. Today there are fewer than 1000 mature birds in the wild. The plains-wanderer is under threat due to habitat loss caused by overgrazing, cropping and suburban sprawl. Unlike most other birds, female wanderers are larger and more colourful and the males take care of the chicks. They are only about 15cm tall and weigh between 40-80g for the male and 55-90g for the female. Their intricate plumage mirrors the colours of their grassland home so they blend in perfectly with their surroundings. The plains-wanderer’s origins date back to when Australia was part of the Gondwana supercontinent over 60 million years ago. They are so biologically distinct that their extinction would result in the loss of a branch of the tree of life. A fussy grass dweller, they like neither too much nor too little grass. That is where sheep grazing can help. After years of low numbers in Victoria, plains-wanderer populations have been increasing in Terrick Terrick National Park in north west Victoria, as sheep grazing maintains the grass in the park at a suitable level. With the right management, this ecologically important bird species is continuing to survive in the native grasslands of Victoria. Managing these habitats for the plains-wanderer can also support the conservation of many other threatened plant and animal species. Object: Nest of plains-wanderers by Mary-Jane Walker, 2020. Outer made from upcycled paper, internal structure steel. Nest of plains-wanderers by Mary-Jane Walker, 2020. Outer made from up cycled paper, internal structure steel. native grasslands, plains-wanderer, terrick terrick national park