Quilt No.26WAM - Western Australian Museum
Owner:
Western Australian Museum
Location:
WA Perth
Maker
Maker:
Unknown
Made in
AUSTRALIA
Patterms
Date:
1881 - 1900
Description:
Possum skin rug constructed from 24 rectangular pieces hand stitched to a dark brown felt backing and couched on other side to faded blue silk tape. 19 possum tails similarly attached to felt backing dangle around 3 sides of the rug. All felt edges are scalloped.
1500 x 1200mm
History:
The rug belonged to Jane Waldeck who was the donor's great grandmother, then to her daughter May Ena Hill, then to her daughter Phyllis McMillan, who recalled being covered up with the rug while riding in her grandmother's phaeton in Melbourne. Ownership continued by maternal descent to Phyllis' daughter Meg Newstead who donated it to the West Australian Museum. It was used between 1890 and the 1980s.
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.
Kangaroo skin rug backed on to a brown checked fringed rug.
1931 x 1525mm
The rug consists of 95 fox tails (19 down and 5 across) stitched to fox skins which also form a border. The top section is piped with felt. The backing is wool felt scalloped around the edge.
1580 x 1260mm
Rug made from 54 Platypus skins; 6 rows of 9 rectangular pelts, brown with creamy yellow edges, machined together. The backing is red felt or baize and extends beyond the top with a punched scalloped border. The backing is hand stitched to the top and has a centre motif of a flower outlined in black braid within a large black rectangle.
1890 x 1635mm
Platypus skin rug. Skins are joined in 7 rows with the larger skins on the outside and the smaller ones in the centre. Skins are rich dark brown with yellow/cream sides (the belly fur). The backing is dark brown felt extending beyond the fur and with a stamped scalloped edge.
1720 x 1490mm
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.
2070 x 1540mm