National Gallery Ian Potter Gallery Federation Square
If you are in Melbourne don't miss this wonderful collection of Quilts. These quilts will inspire you to achieve. The last photo is of a Hexagon quilt made with 1cm hexagons,c 1800s.
Making the Australian Quilt: 1800–1950 is the first major exhibition of its kind to bring together the rich works that constitute Australia’s quilt heritage. Exclusive to Melbourne, the exhibition includes more than eighty works from around the country. They include quilts, coverlets, garments and quilted, patched and pieced works made in Australia or with a significant Australian provenance. The exhibition also features key 19th century English quilts that were brought or sent to Australia, informing and influencing the early quilting practices of local makers.
One small group of female convicts, including Irish women,
who arrived in Hobart on the Rajah in 1841, have left an extraordinary testimony to their skill and perseverance — the Rajah quilt, the only known surviving convict shipboard quilt. The Rajah quilt is one of those extraordinary pieces
that speak to the experiences women during their onboard journey to Australia.
Provided with needles, thread and patchwork pieces by the
British Ladies’ Society for the Reformation of Female Prisoners, several different women onboard the convict ship quilted together the 2,815 fabric pieces in the
medallion style, popular in the late 18 century in England and Ireland. Of the 180 women onboard the Rajah, 37 of those women were from Ireland such as Ann Chapman, a needlewoman by trade who was sentenced to seven years
transportation for stealing. Could Ann have been one of those women who stitched the quilt? On arrival in Hobart, the quilt was then presented to the Lieutenant Governor’s wife Lady Jane Franklin. Of the objects relating to Australia’s convict history, there is very little relating to convict
women. The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra acquired the quilt in 1989 and it has become the most requested object for viewing at the Gallery. Due to it’s fragility, the quilt is only on display once a year and the National Museum of Australia is very excited to be able to display the quilt in its upcoming exhibition