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
Patterms
Wholecloth, Domestic Wagga, Utilitarian, Typically Australian
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]

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