Hearth and home: domestic textiles in the collection of Museums Victoria with Dr Laura Jocic

Over the years Museums Victoria has acquired a range of domestic textiles dating to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which have been made by women for use in the home. These include two quilts dating to the 1840s and 1850s which were brought to Australia by British immigrants and a range of handicrafts made by Ada Perry between the 1930s and 1960s who, as a widow, raised her eight children in the country town of Mirboo North. This lecture will discuss the women who created these items and the utilitarian and expressive role these objects played within the home environment.

Dr Laura Jocic is a curator and historian with a specialisation in dress and textiles. Laura has worked in galleries and museums in Australia and New Zealand and in 2001 she co-founded the Costume & Textile Association of New Zealand. From 2007 to 2012 Laura was a curator of Australian Fashion and Textiles at the National Gallery of Victoria, where she curated the exhibitions Australian Made: 100 Years of Fashion and Linda Jackson Bush Couture. Laura is an Honorary Associate at Museums Victoria and an Associate Teaching Fellow in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Deakin University.

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the presentation, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This event is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our house museum, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This event is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust.

Image: Quilt, Isabella Spence, Scotland, c.1840s-1850s. Museums Victoria. Photo: Jennifer McNair