A suite of four beautiful and surprising stories related to Wangaratta have just been published!
Wangaratta, Textile Town explores the history and impact of the textile industry, the camaraderie that developed between factory workers, and charts post-war immigration which made “Wangaratta a model for Australia” (Mervyn Huggins). With striking photographs by Wolfgang Sievers and others, archival Super8 footage, and a short film that is a meditation on industrial processes involved in textile and wool manufacturing, it’s a rich and textured exprience of Australia’s history, and a world of manufacturing that still winds its way back to our wardrobes.
Worker, Bruck Mills Wangaratta, Wolfgang Sievers
The textile project included a residency by two textile artists, Andrea Komninos and Susan Mathews, who explored Wangaratta’s collections and manufacturing history (making some surprising discoveries such as Robin Boyd designed buildings) and created a textile work in response to their investigations. Their creative journey, as well as a fascinating array of research and discovery, is recorded in the Wangaratta Textile Project Blog.
Andrea Komninos printing her work.
There’s a story about Marianne Gibson’s Crazy Patchwork Quilt. Crazy patchwork became a ‘craze’ in 1876 after people visited the Japanese Pavilion at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Take-up of the style by Victorian women ushered modernism into the home. Gibson was born in Ireland, but emmigrated to Australia and settled in Wangaratta as a young woman. The Gibson Quilt is one of the finest surviving examples of crazy patchwork in the world. It is housed at the Wangaratta Historical Society.
Flamingo detail, Marianne Gibson Quilt.
In addition to the textile related stories, there’s Pangerang Country by Freddie Dowling where Freddie introduces us to several Pangerang stories and sites.
Freddie Dowling
Freddie learnt the stories of the indigenous people of this area from his grandmother, Annie Lewis, and his father, Frank ‘Munja’ Dowling. The Pangerang people were a nation of sub-clans who occupied much of what is now North Eastern Victoria stretching along the Tongala (Murray) River to Echuca and into the areas of the southern Riverina in New South Wales.
And last but not least there’s The Last Stand of the Kelly Gang: Sites in Glenrowan, where, through a series of images, key sites in Glenrowan connected to the infamous Last Stand of the Kelly Gang are examined, guided by respected lifetime local resident Linton Briggs.
Ann Jones' Glenrowan Inn sign
All significant stories from a significant place.
The Wangaratta Stories will launch will take place in partnership with the launch of the Stitched Up Festival on Friday July 1 at the High Country Library, Community Room , Wangaratta, at 6 pm.
What an exciting and innovative way to document these stories! There should be more of this sort of thing. I particularly loved Andrea and Susan’s blog – it was so interesting to see the development of their works, and to hear about the ideas that they were inspired by.
Thanks Lauren. We’ll pass on your comments to Andrea and Susan.
Great stories from the Wang…please keep them coming. Love the images and the anecdotes. Where else would you find this kind of gold if not for all the hard working people at CV, Wangaratta, and Victoria!!
Thanks Asa! We think the Wangaratta stories are pretty fabulous – informative and personal, but also relating to the bigger issues that affect us all.
Always great to see stories and information on Wangaratta. There is so much to tell about Wangaratta and so little is documented. Jamie in Wangaratta
Thanks Jamie – we really enjoyed highlighting some of the amazing stories and fabulous cultural collections in Wangaratta.