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Weston Bate Memorial Lecture
Women and dress in rural Australia 1840s-1860s
Laura Jocic
As emigrants arrived in the Australian colonies, many prepared themselves for a life on the land. Whether settling as farmers, or heading to the goldfields in the hope of finding their fortune, all had to contend with managing their dress, often in harsh and remote environments. While women lived active and productive lives in these localities, it is the image of the male digger and bushman dressed in his loose shirt, trousers and boots and wearing a neckerchief and wide-brimmed hat that dominates understandings of how the quintessential Australian colonial settler dressed. Less is known about how women dressed and adapted to these environments. In focusing on a number surviving items of women’s dress, including those in The Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections, this lecture will discuss what women on the goldfields and in rural areas wore and how they purchased, made, mended and managed their often limited supply of clothing.
About the Speaker:
Laura Jocic is a curator and historian with a specialisation in dress and textiles. She recently completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne investigating the significance of dress in Australian colonial society. Laura has worked in galleries and museums in Australia and New Zealand. She was a Registrar at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and in 2001 she co-founded the Costume & Textile Association of New Zealand. From 2007 to 2012 Laura was a curator of Australian Fashion and Textiles at the National Gallery of Victoria, where she curated the exhibitions Australian Made: 100 Years of Fashion and Linda Jackson Bush Couture. Laura is a Research Associate at Museums Victoria and has undertaken projects for RMIT Design Archives and Kew Historical Society and curated the exhibition Louis Kahan: Art, Theatre, Fashion for the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn. She has taught in the areas of art curatorship and cultural heritage and museums studies and has had her research published in various catalogues and journals.
Image: Day Dress, 1860s, Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections
Laura Jocic
As emigrants arrived in the Australian colonies, many prepared themselves for a life on the land. Whether settling as farmers, or heading to the goldfields in the hope of finding their fortune, all had to contend with managing their dress, often in harsh and remote environments. While women lived active and productive lives in these localities, it is the image of the male digger and bushman dressed in his loose shirt, trousers and boots and wearing a neckerchief and wide-brimmed hat that dominates understandings of how the quintessential Australian colonial settler dressed. Less is known about how women dressed and adapted to these environments. In focusing on a number surviving items of women’s dress, including those in The Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections, this lecture will discuss what women on the goldfields and in rural areas wore and how they purchased, made, mended and managed their often limited supply of clothing.
About the Speaker:
Laura Jocic is a curator and historian with a specialisation in dress and textiles. She recently completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne investigating the significance of dress in Australian colonial society. Laura has worked in galleries and museums in Australia and New Zealand. She was a Registrar at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and in 2001 she co-founded the Costume & Textile Association of New Zealand. From 2007 to 2012 Laura was a curator of Australian Fashion and Textiles at the National Gallery of Victoria, where she curated the exhibitions Australian Made: 100 Years of Fashion and Linda Jackson Bush Couture. Laura is a Research Associate at Museums Victoria and has undertaken projects for RMIT Design Archives and Kew Historical Society and curated the exhibition Louis Kahan: Art, Theatre, Fashion for the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn. She has taught in the areas of art curatorship and cultural heritage and museums studies and has had her research published in various catalogues and journals.
Image: Day Dress, 1860s, Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections
2025-10-16
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