Exhibitions

Sisters who sewed a fine seam: The Misses Stewart

Our latest temporary exhibition sheds light on the lives and livelihood of two remarkable girls from Bilpin, The Misses Stewart.

Myra (1893-1978) and Ivy (1897-1976) were raised on their family fruit farm. Unlikely as it may seem, it was there that they learnt to sew, a skill that stood them in good stead when their father died, and they moved with their mother to a small timber cottage in Richmond.

Needing to earn an income, the sisters began creating garments and accessories for sale in David Jones and Farmers Department Stores in Sydney. By the light of a kerosene lamp, they sewed, knitted and crocheted ties, belts, baby clothes, lace trimmings, gentlemen's waistcoats and all sorts of women's wear and accessories. They travelled to 'town' once a month to deliver their wares.

'It's quite an amazing story,' says Museum Director, Kath von Witt, 'not just how much they produced, but the quality of it – every stitch and seam is perfect'.

The display includes all manner of clothing, from underwear and night wear to day wear, mourning, and accessories. It showcases fabrics that were once common but rarely heard of these day – like guipure, gabardine and organdie, and sewing techniques like pin-tucking, smocking, tatting, beading and mending.

The exhibition speaks not only for this largely lost art, but for the values of another century – like thrift, workmanship and 'making ends meet'. Recycling was common practice, including the removal of decorative trimmings from one item of clothing to be used on another, as well as mending, patching and restyling.

'Mending!' laughs Kath. 'I think most of us these days can sew on a button, but as for anything more complicated – forget it! Unfortunately it's just not in our vocabulary.'

The Misses Stewart will be on view in 2011 and 2012.

River, Land, People

The main exhibition paints with a broad brush the themes and events that have made the Hawkesbury what it is today, beginning with the Darug people, whose lives revolved around the Deerubbin (better know today as the Hawkesbury) River. The river was vital to the survival of the Darug, as it was for the white settlers, who were subjected to its tendency to flood on many occasions. The worst of these was in 1867, and on display in the museum is a gauge showing the height of the flood at its peak. Margaret Catchpole wrote:

'This happened the 22nd of last March [1806]… Some poor creatures riding on the houses, some on their barns, crying out for God's sake to be saved, others firing their guns in the greatest distress for a boat. There were many thousands of head [of pigs]– all kinds of cattle lost, and so many bushels of all sorts of grain was lost so now this place is in great distress.'

Catchpole had arrived in the colony after being convicted of horse-stealing, sentenced to death, commuted to seven years transportation, making a daring escape from gaol, being recaptured and sentenced to transportation for life. She was one of many peoplewho left their mark on the local community as well as making a contribution to the wider world. Others were Mary Archer, who set the precedent by which Europeans became legally accountable for killing Aborigines, and Andrew Town, who made a fortune as one ofthe most successful horse breeders in the country, only to lose it all in the economic recession of the 1890s.

Mighty Mushrooms

It's hard to live in the Hawkesbury and not be aware of the mushroom industry, but the Mighty Mushrooms exhibition offers residents and visitors alike some new insights and fascinating facts about the world's favourite fungi.

Objects on display include growing equipment such as a compost-ridging machine and shelf growing system, as well as photographs, merchandise and documentary footage.

The exhibition charts the progress of the industry from its early days, when mushrooms were grown in disused railway tunnels, through the post-war years and the contribution of so-called 'displaced persons', to the technological advancements made in the 1970s and the huge increase in consumption following the promotion of mushrooms in women's magazines, newspaper columns and TV cooking shows.

Brothers George and Norm Johnson with a couple of mighty mushrooms, McGraths Hill 1957

The exhibition has been organised by museum officer, Ruth Maittlen, whose favourite object is a Mighty Mushroom costume from the 1980s. It is made of velour, plastic and nylon and needs inflating so was not the most comfortable thing to wear. But, as Ruth points out, it served its purpose in popularising the mushroom and helping to make it the sixth most valuable horticultural crop in Australia after grapes, potatoes, apples, tomatoes and bananas.

The exhibition continues throughout the year, with a number of public programs including craft activities for children, talks and cooking demonstrations. So if you're strolling through Windsor and the smell of mushrooms sautéed in butter and garlic wafts through the mall, you can expect to find Ruth hard at work at the barbecue – all in the name of bringing the history of the Mighty Mushroom to greater public attention