Australian Dress Register

Audrey Westley met Angelo (Bob) Capuano at a dance on Strathalbyn, South Australia where he was convalescing. It was May 1942. Two years later they married at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney and while Bob was repatriated home, Audrey had to wait for a passage. During this waiting period she knitted this jumper.

In April 1946 she boarded the SS MONTEREY bound for San Francisco, wearing this jumper. Audrey was featured in her 'Stars and Stripes' jumper in both Australian and American newspapers - keen to compare her with the original maker of the American national flag, Betsy Ross.

Audrey settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she retained strong links with other Australian War Brides, setting up the "Australian Wives' Club" there. She was married 29 years before Bob passed away in 1988. They had four children together and Audrey still lives in Pittsburgh. She was interviewed in 1994 on her eleventh trip back to Australia.

During World War II and for a short period afterwards some 12-15,000 Australian women married American servicemen, met while the latter were based or convalescing in Australia. All were referred to as War Brides. Some made a life in the USA, while others returned to Australia with or without their husbands in the years following the war. While public perception about war brides paints a narrow picture, it is clear that there are many different reasons why Australian women married American servicemen.

The much-used phrase "overpaid, over-sexed and over here" showed the growing resentment that many Australian men felt about Americans coming in and "taking their wives". But the sheer number of American troops stationed in Australia during the Pacific campaign, at a time when many of Australia's own young men were away fighting in Europe and the Middle East, meant that for many Australian women American men provided much needed company. As one Australian war bride remarked, '...those were the days when you really got fed up with all female company and you just longed for somebody to take you to dinner.'

Audrey Capuano and newspaper clippings.

Online exhibition at http://anmmwarbrides.wordpress.com/

1991, ANMM USA core exhibition

The blue canton covers approximately one quarter of the front of the jumper on the right hand side from waist to neck. The white stars have been embroidered onto the blue in six rows of three.

Eighteen five-pointed stars in white wool embroidered to represent the 48 stars of the American flag.

Stocking stitch in 4-ply wool in bands of red and white for the body and sleeves, with the right canton in blue.

This jumper has been hand knitted and finished by hand sewing the side, sleeve and shoulder seams.

Minor repairs by the wearer have been completed in several spots where the wool has deteriorated, probably through insect damage. A red wool has been used to match the existing wool.

During the long wait to gain her passage to the USA, Audrey knitted this jumper and wore it for her arrival in San Francisco. She was greeted with a hero's welcome and even featured in a newspaper article, being hailed as 'Betsy Ross the Second' for her Stars and Stripes jumper.

Audrey recalls, "The jumper has only 18 instead of 48 stars - quite enough as it took me two days to put them on."

ARIA and APRA award-winning Western Australian folk rock band The Waifs released their single 'Bridal Train' in 2004. The song was written by band member Vikki Thorn, based on her grandmother's experiences as a War Bride. Thorn was nominated for an ARIA award and won first prize in the Folk category, as well as the overall first prize, in the 2006 USA Songwriting Competition for 'Bridal Train'.

In a 2007 interview with Andrew Denton on ABC TV Thorn said '...I just wonder how those women must have felt as they were journeying across their country possibly for the last time...I get a bit emotional still when I sing that song'.

The first verse and chorus are:

A telegram arrived today,

Well it's time to catch the Monterey

'Cause the man I wed, he waits for me

And a daughter that he's yet to see

All the girls around Australia

Married to a Yankee sailor

The fare is paid across the sea

To the home of the brave and the land of the free

A small archive of newspaper clippings refers to the following - departure of the SS MONTEREY and its arrival in San Francisco; the formation of the Australian Wives' Club in Pittsburgh by Audrey Capuano; and the arrival of Mrs Capuano in Australia in 1953 to visit family.

A number of holes have been sewn by the wearer using a similar-coloured wool.

Evidence of insect damage in the form of holes; probably moths or silverfish.