LUCAS Girl Tilly Thompson’s dark blue panne velvet dress gives a personal sense of the leading Ballarat business woman. But it is Tilly’s war-time story that really brings the garmet to life.
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Without the story, Ballarat Library’s Julie Stevens said the garment lacks meaning and context.
Tilly’s story stands proud in Women of Empire, a tribute to influential women in 1914-18 at Ballarat Libraries to commemorate the Armistice centenary this month. The exhibition is brought to Ballarat by Dressing Australia – Museum of Costume, which also delivered the Jane Austen fashion exhibition earlier this year.
Women of Empire has a particular focus on women in western and regional Victoria.
“Tilly as a Lucas Girl has that real connection with the Arch of Victory and Avenue of Honour,” Ms Stevens said. “Stories are really important...The personal stories help the dresses make a lot more sense.
“The other thing that’s quite interesting with this exhibition is the focus on the role women played in World War I. This shares their experience while their husbands and sons might have been away but often women's stories of war are under featured.”
Tilly’s Lake Wendouree home became a refuge for returned servicemen. She also became a sought-after speaker and women’s self-help leader.
Nearby is the elegant evening gown of Eliza Jane Lansell, a key social influencer and fundraiser from the prominent Bendigo Lansell family. Eliza Jane was inaugural president of the Kennington branch of the British Red Cross and her gown is reminiscent of what she might have worn to a social fundraiser to support the Empire’s war efforts.
A rare and worn, original WWI nurses’ apron is a particularly valuable find in the exhibition.
Ms Stevens said the Austen exhibition had proved popular with visitors to the library, many who were pleasantly surprised to find such a free, rich cultural display. She hoped Women of Empire would encourage a similar reaction and once more also tap into a real revival in hand-crafted clothing.
“There is that movement towards slow production of clothing coming back into fashion, a real move toward sustainable dress making,” Ms Stevens said.
“There is a real attention to detail in manual work.
These show whole outfits put together. Millinery used to be standard day wear of the time. We have skirts and jackets, but hat and shoes, brooches and necklaces were part of the whole bit."
Women of Empire is on display at Ballarat Library from November 1-22.
Historian Clare Wright will also speak on Australian women in history to complement the display on November 10.
Dr Wright will focus on the suffragette movement and women earning the right to vote. This is the topic for her new book You Daughters of Freedom: The Australians Who Won the Vote and Inspired the World, which is part two in her democracy trilogy.
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