Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Roses From the Heart

My sister alerted me to an exhibition at MADE (Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka) of bonnets made to commemorate the 25,566 women convicts brought to Australia between 1788 and 1853.

Each bonnet is embroidered with the name of a convict woman, the ship she arrived on and the date. Some were made by descendants of the particular convict, and others by interested people such as my sister and one of my nieces.


The number of bonnets on display meant we would have been very lucky to find the particular ones they made:
But it is a very moving display.

It is only on for a few more days, so I'm very glad I didn't miss it.

2 comments:

Jeanette said...

A moving reminder of a brutal system. Though it portrays the women as vulnerable, for many they were able to forge new lives for themselves and their children.

Jeann of Melton said...

I remember when this project was planned. I was going to participate but just never got around to it. It is pleasing to see how many believed in the project.