Monday, August 13, 2012

Tapestry at Alice Springs

I have been away for a week, having a lovely holiday.  We went to Alice Springs and visited the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame.  It is an amazing place, with lots to see and read.
There were displays about the earliest European women in Alice Springs and the Northern Territory - I don't know how they survived, it must have been so hard.  (Not that it would have been easy for the men either.)  As white women haven't been in the area for that long, most of the things were recorded in writing or photographs, lots of historical records.
There were two things of particular interest for me. The first was a tapestry of women aviatrix (I can't find a link to it on the site).


The second was a quilt commemorating women who were the first to do something significant in Australia.  (You can read more about this here.)


The quilt was done by having the famous woman sign a piece of calico, with a quote or message, and then a piece of fabric relevant to the area that the woman was significant in was added.  It is very big and very interesting.
There was a lot of interesting information at the museum, which is housed in the old Alice Springs gaol.
Well worth the visit.

4 comments:

parlance said...

I love giant, detailed tapestries.

Mary said...

Parlance, I do too. This one is interesting for the research that must have gone into it as well as for the design and weaving.

Glennis said...

Hi Mary
I didn't see either of these at Alice; what a good excuse to return and stay for a day or 2. Both look amazing.

Mary said...

Hi Glennis, yes, they were beautiful and I hadn't known about them, so was happily surprised.
We also visited a weaving place and tried to visit a place that makes jewellery out of recycled things but that was closed, unfortunately.
You can find them both at www.tjanpi.com.au and http://www.tangentyereartists.org.au