Quilt No.731MR - Mary-O Roberts

Mary-O Roberts
Owner: 
Mary-O Roberts
Location: 
NSW Riverina
Maker
Maker: 
Mary-O Roberts
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Date: 
1941 - 1970
Description: 
This domestic Wagga is made from an opened out jute wool bale as the padding with a woollen blanket as the backing. The top was originally curtains (brown cotton printed with daisies and dull yellow tulips) and the material has been folded over to the back for 60mm and stitched with 'Barbour's Linen Wax Thread' using running stitches about 50mm long. The whole domestic Wagga is then stitched in a large square grid.
1980 x 1730mm
History: 

This domestic Wagga was made by Mary-O Roberts (born Burnside), under the guidance of her mother-in-law Stella Roberts, at 'Pulgamurtie' Station via Broken Hill in 1959. It is still owned by Mary-O Roberts and is used at 'Gunnadoo' Morago Via Deniliquin NSW.

Story: 

"When I married 44 years ago and lived outback of Broken Hill my mother-in-law was still making Waggas for family members, and had made them also as a young woman for when she and her husband were on the road carting wool by camel team. She also made them for her sons to take as swags when they were camped out on mustering trips, but they were also used on their beds at home at Pulgamurtie Station (150 miles N.W. of Broken Hill). There was no electricity out there and the winters are cold. My own Wagga was used by my son on camping trips and is still used on my own bed on very cold nights - (There is a certain comfort in the sheer weight of it!). As far as I know the use of jute wool packs as a filling was quite common on the wool growing properties and of course they would have the added advantage of being water-proof (and therefore relatively wind-proof) as well."
[ Extract letter from Mary-O Roberts 'Gunadoo' Deniliquin NSW 24.6.2000]
"Jute wool bales [were] sometimes called a Dalgetys Blanket, after Dalgety Stock and Station agents who supplied the bales to graziers."[Mary-O Roberts]

Related Quilts:

Yvonne Hamdorf
Wholecloth pram quilt with a top of pink cotton sateen, and the reverse is a more finely woven, ivory, fabric. All over quilting design as main feature, with stylised hearts, leaves and cross hatching. The padding is cotton batting. 870 x 660 mm.
John Tomkin
Hand stitched, cotton, appliquéd, quilt in a flower pattern on a plain background. Colours are shades of green, apricot and browns. This quilt was known as a 'Bride's Quilt'. Padding is thought to be layers of white fabric raised almost like a wadding. The backing is cotton material. 2470 x 2020 mm.
Sophia Haskas
Wholecloth quilt with one side of blue satin and the other of red cotton or sateen. Overall intricate quilting pattern with each part based on a symbol of Rhodes. On the blue side the quilting stitches outlining the deer have been over embroidered in gold braid. The padding is raw cotton.
2040 x 1750mm
Ida Blenkiron
Rectangular quilt with front and back made of rectangles of cotton samples of shirt materials, in checks, stripes and plains. Colours are soft muted reds, greens, blues, yellows and browns, and pastels. Construction is 3 to 4 rows of rectangles joined across the quilt. Padding is probably an old blanket. There is a row of hand quilting approximately the width of one patch in from the edge, holding the layers together.
1870 x 950mm
Stavroula Iouannou
Wholecloth quilt with both sides in a cotton floral material with a dusty pink background. All over hand quilting is in loose parallel lines.
Stavroula re-covered this quilt with this material about 20 to 25 years ago. Originally the quilt had a yellow gold satin top with yellow gold cotton backing. Padding is cotton wadding.
1900 x 1600mm
June Brown
Wholecloth quilt made from rayon/damask style fabric golden brown in colour with a raised stylised floral motif. Quilted to the self pattern of the fabric. Hand quilted, backing is of gold coloured fabric.
Cotton wadding showing through worn areas.
1810 x 1250mm