Quilt number:

289TH

Owner:

Thelma Harris

Location:

SA Country

Maker:

Alice McLean

Country/Place where quilt was made: 

AUSTRALIA SA

Date:

1921 - 1940

Description:

Wholecloth quilt with both sides made from heavy, woven, striped cotton in brown and fawn, blue grey and orange. The filling is a grey blanket. 1271 x 1067mm

General Pattern:

Wholecloth, Utilitarian

Quilt History:

Made in the 1930s by Alice McLean for her son Doug when he was working out on sheep stations in the Olary area. It was called a 'wagga'. Owned by Mrs McLean's daughter, Mrs Thelma Harris. Previously it had been kept in her father's house.

Story of Quilt:

"I have a Wagga made by Mother during her time on the North East Railway early in the 1930s. It is very heavy the inner looks like an old grey blanket & both sides are covered with a woven cotton material which has a few signs of wear. We still have the hand machine (Singer) which sews perfectly. I also have a velvet (crazy patchwork) cushion which she made when she was a young woman." "Our Mother died in 1934 when I was 10 years and the youngest of four children. I am 75 years now. I have the block in the Jamestown cemetery made over to myself and my two daughters know I want to be buried there beside my Mother." [Thelma Harris 21.3.1999]