Quilt No.637RM - Russell McNickle
Owner:
Russell McNickle
Location:
NSW Riverina
Maker
Maker:
Hartley Schultz
Made in
AUSTRALIA NSW
Patterms
Date:
1941 - 1970
Description:
Pieced kangaroo skin rug. Centre square set on edge with radiating squares of rectangles of different coloured skins. This rug is one of a pair. The skins were from the big red, the blue flyer, the black scrubber and the grey. The backing is red felt with the traditional scalloped edge that extends beyond the fur.
1800 x 1500mm
History:
Russell McNickle shot the kangaroos. Mr. Hartley Schultz tanned them at his Wagga Wagga tannery and made the rug in 1958. It has always been owned by Russell McNickle. It is not used now.
Story:
Russell McNickle shot the kangaroos on Milthorpe's property 'Walanthray' Hillston NSW with a 22 calibre BRNO rifle in 1958. The skins are from the big red, the grey, the black scrubber and/or the blue flyer. No licence was necessary to shoot the roos. Russell salted the skins down and they were then taken to the Schultz tannery in Wagga Wagga where Hartley Schultz was responsible for tanning, design and making the rugs.
Russell bought the rifle (and bullets) for 60 pounds and paid for it within a year by trapping and shooting rabbits and shooting roos.
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
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
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