Join curator and historian Laura Jocic as she discusses what women on the goldfields and in rural areas wore and how they purchased, made, and mended it.
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, all had to contend with managing their dress, often in harsh and remote environments. While women lived active and productive lives in these environments, it is the image of the male digger and bushman that dominates understandings of how the quintessential Australian colonial settler dressed. Less is known about how women dressed and adapted to these environments, and this lecture focuses on a number surviving items of women’s dress.