Australian Dress Register

This dress is an extremely rare and significant example of provenanced early colonial Australian dress. Dating from around 1838, it is believed to have been worn by Julia Johnston, the daughter of Lieutenant George Johnston.

This dress is an excellent example of late 1830s fashion with its fitted bodice, dropped leg-o-mutton full sleeve and full skirt. The dress appears to have been professionally made with details of piping and precise embroidery worked on the skirt.

Julia was born at Annandale farm to Lieutenant George Johnston and Esther Abrahams in 1796. Lieutenant Johnston was an officer of Marines who came to Sydney Cove aboard the Lady Penrhyn in 1788 with the first fleet of convicts. In 1804, he became Commander of the New South Wales Corps and was an influential player in the Rum Rebellion of 1808, which saw the arrest and imprisonment of Governor William Bligh. The Johnston's were major landholders of Annandale in Sydney's inner suburbs and in the Illawarra district and were influential in the social life of the early Colony.

This dress is one of only a few provenanced surviving examples of early colonial Australian dress. Such examples provide researchers with a rare opportunity to examine the construction, materials and techniques used in early 19th century dress and to examine the role fashion played in defining the wealth and moral superiority of Australia's colonial elite.

Author: Rebecca Evans, Assistant Curator, November, 2014.

Handmade white cotton ankle length dress with long sleeves and full skirt decorated with cutwork and embroidery. Bodice of dress has gentle v-shaped neckline and slight gathering above waistband at centre front. Skirt is gathered and falls from waistband, which sits slightly above the natural waistline, forming a bell-shaped skirt. Sleeves are long and puffed at elbows, tapering towards the wrists.

Dress is decorated with white work edging around neckline and cuffs. Shoulders are decorated with ruching and white work on both front and back. Upper section of sleeves feature fine tucks with decorative padded stitching. Below tucks are two frills, with those on wearers' right sleeve edged with white work and drawn work, while the frills on the wearers' upper left arm remain undecorated. Below the frills sleeves are puffed over the elbows, tapering in at mid forearm to a slim wrist-fitting cuff. The sleeve is finished with a white work trim at cuff. Skirt is decorated with cutwork and embroidery depicting floral and leaf shaped motifs, finishing with a zig-zag row of cutwork eyelet holes at top of hem. Skirt hem is double weight and self-hemmed.

Dress fastens at centre back opening with drawstring at neckline, five dorset buttons down centre back and two metal hooks and thread eyes at waistband. The back opening continues down skirt, which is edged with piping. A length of thin boning is evident in proper right side seam of bodice.