Historical information

As part of the National Trust's Australian Heritage Festival 2021, the Kew Historical Society and the Villa Alba Museum collaborated to mount a fashion and design exhibition. The theme of the exhibition took its focus from the year-long program at the Museum featuring the use of flowers in design. The walls and ceilings of the house are notable for their use of floral and narrative painted decoration produced, in the early 1880s, for William and Anna Maria Greenlaw by the Melbourne art decoration firm the Paterson Brothers. The examples of fashion and design from the collection of the Kew Historical Society were located on the ground floor of the house: in the drawing room, dining room, morning room and in the vestibule, or ballroom as it was sometimes described in nineteenth century newspapers. The exhibition was supported by the City of Boroondara through Triennial Operational Grant funding for the Kew Historical Society and the Villa Alba Museum.

Physical description

Series of photographs of exhibition pieces in situ at the Villa Alba Museum in May 2021.