Quilt No.191MB - Margaret Bryant
Owner:
Margaret Bryant
Location:
VIC North East
Maker
Maker:
George Dennis
Made in
AUSTRALIA VIC
Patterms
Date:
1921 - 1940
Description:
Kangaroo skin rug made from 22 pieces of kangaroo pelt, 4 pieces across each end of the rug and 2 larger pieces making up panels in the central portion of the rug. Pelts are hand stitched together. Backing of burgundy felt has been attached by hand stitching. The navy edging around the skins appears to be machine sewn. The felt backinge xtends beyond the fur and makes a border with scalloped edge.
No padding.
1981 x 1309mm
History:
Probably made by George Dennis at Bundalong (VIC), in the 1920s. Owned by George Dennis, then by his daughter Mrs Anne Bryant, then by her daughter Rosa Egan.
Story:
Known as The Kangaroo Rug or grampy's Rug. Probably made at Bundalong on the Murray River, Yarrawonga, by George Dennis, using kangaroo pelts from kangaroos shot during hunting trips.
George Dennis (1882-1944)
Mrs Anne Bryant (born Dennis) (1911-1993)
"This rug/quilt was used on beds in my husband's home at Yarrawonga probably following his grandfather's death in 1944 when the said rug/ quilt became something of a family treasure and still is! The maker was a keen shooter, fisherman, and was a farmer by occupation - his wife Isabel Dennis may have helped in quilt making."
[Margaret Bryant]
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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1680 x 1300mm
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1550 x 1300mm
3 fragments of koala bear skin joined with very fine stitching. Uneven edges. Thought to have been part of an aboriginal cloak or rug.
Possum skin rug. Skins are recantular centre back pieces, approximately 230mm x 140mm. They are hand stitched together in 11 rows running the length of the rug. At one end, the last row of skins goes across the rug. The backing is stitched to the skins and is mainly grey woollen material with a green piece added at one end. There is a scalloped edge and dark blue rat tail braid on the back 60mm from the edge.
2025 x 1400mm
Rabbit skins sewn on to dark blue felt. Skins have been arranged to give a patterned effect. Centre has a rectangular lighter coloured skin with a further rectangle of darker colour in the centre. Skins are handsewn, with rat-tail braid on the reverse side. Blue felt has a pinked edge.
1440 x 1330mm