Quilt No.747JC - John Coman
Owner:
John Coman
Location:
NSW South East
Maker
Maker:
Sid & Mrs Bayliss
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Patterms
Date:
1941 - 1970
Description:
Dingo skin rug. 3 skins long x 5 skins wide with only the backs of the skins used. The backing is blue felt. The skins were tanned with wattle bark.
2100 x 1800mm
History:
John Coman trapped the dingoes. Sid Bayliss (Tumut) tanned them in the mid to late 60s and Sid's wife sewed on the backing. It is still owned by John Coman.
Story:
John Coman still traps dingoes in the Delegate district of southern NSW where they continue to destroy farmers' sheep. He currently sets about 50 traps and has caught 30 dingoes in the last 6 months, all pure bred. The skins in this rug were wattle bark tanned by Sid Bayliss in Tumut NSW who was regarded as the best.
[Refer to "One of the Last" by Richard Taubman for details of Sid Bayliss and his wife]
John Coman with the dingo rug, 2000
Related Quilts:
Kangaroo skin cloak of seven gores is made from the skins of seven grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus). The skins vary in size and shape, the inner five are roughly triangular. The cloak is edged with a series of loops, through one of these near the collar is a piece of cloth which appears to have tied the cloak together. The skins are sewn together with two sorts of linen or cotton thread. In a small diamond-shaped gusset at the back of the neck there are some stitches of sinew. The skins are sewn together by means of a small hem which was turned back on to the fur, so stitches went through two layers of skin on each gore. There are some small holes in the skins. The skins are very soft and pliable, and greyish in colour; they vary in size and shape.
Longest part: 800mm
Ref: MA Thesis 1973, S.Meagher 'A Reconstruction of the Traditional Life of the Aborigines of the S.W. of Western Australia.
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Possum skin cloak. Possum skins sewn together with vegetable fibre or kangaroo sinew. Designs incised into the skins, some of which are decorated with ochres.
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