Australian Dress Register

The dress has been dated between 1810 and 1813, and it is probable it belonged to Devonshire woman, Ann Deane (mother of Mary Deane, who was to marry the pastoralist and founder of Springfield sheep station, William Pitt Faithfull). While the details of Ann Deane's life are unknown, we do know she was christened at Kingsteignton, Devon in November 1772 and was the daughter of landholders John and Elizabeth Frances Pidsley. Ann married Thomas Deane at Upton Pyne in Devon in 1807, and by 1813 had given birth to four of her six children.

The dress travelled to Australia with Ann Deane when she and her son Robert, daughters Ann and Mary, and grandson Edgar migrated to New South Wales in early 1838. Ann Deane's husband Thomas had died over a decade earlier, and her children had been receiving an annuity of 1000 pounds a year from their Uncle Robert Deane, a captain in the West India Company marines, who died in 1827.

When the Deane family embarked upon the three-month sea voyage to Australia the blue silk dress was not the only cherished possession among their luggage. The Faithfull family collection contains a range of objects and material brought from England by the Deanes, including sketches and paintings of English landscapes and seascapes (by daughters Ann and Mary), scrapbooks filled with newspaper clippings, recipes and poetry, books many of which were inscribed with affectionate messages from friends left behind and a number of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century dresses.

After arriving in Sydney Ann's daughters, Ann and Mary, established a private school for young ladies in Macquarie Place. The school operated until 1844, when Mary married Faithfull, and it was through this union that the dress found its way to Springfield sheep station in Goulburn. Mary and Faithfull had nine children between 1845 and 1859, and their eldest daughter Florence became the caretaker of the dress once her mother and aunt had passed away. Florence Faithfull became an avid collector, keeping hundreds of items left by family members when they moved away or died.

In the early 1950s Florence's niece and namesake, Florence 'Bobbie' Maple-Brown, was faced with the momentous task of sorting through the remarkable collection of material that had accumulated for over 100 years at Springfield. During renovations of the main homestead Bobbie converted two rooms of the nine-bedroom mansion into what was to become known as the Faithfull Family Museum. The blue silk dress and many others collected during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were hung in a wardrobe in the family museum, springing to life now and again when younger generations of the Maple-Brown family used them for dress-ups.

This dress is of the Empire style (late 1700s - 1820s) that saw a classical revival in women's fashion, inspired by Grecian robes and emphasising elegance and simplicity. A high waist, bib-front and columnar skirt made the Empire dress less restrictive than many other 19th-century styles. However, beneath this light, freeflowing garment lay several layers of underwear. A shift and petticoat were worn, as well as a stay (soft corset) with a busk to ensure correct posture. A small roll-shaped bustlepad was inserted behind the waist to lift the fabric.

When Ann Deane arrived in Sydney she and her family were part of a steady flow of free settlers from Britain and Ireland arriving in Australia during the first half of the nineteenth century. As early as the 1820s Australia's colonies began to be regarded as more than 'nurseries of depravity' - holding grounds for Britain's unwanted criminals. Convict transportation continued, but ships arriving on Australia's shores also carried European immigrants in search of wealth, opportunity and, above all, a better life. The motivation for leaving Britain behind, the emotional and physical journey undertaken, and the stories of settlement in the distant and unfamiliar lands of the Antipodes are many and varied. Emigrants with capital, others with very little, widows, disgraced British citizens, ambitious young men, single women and entire families came from a range of different social and economic backgrounds. All brought with them a set of ideals, values, traditions, imaginings and expectations that would shape the development and future of Australian society.

When Ann, her daughters and nephew arrived at Springfield in 1845 the property was developing into a successful merino stud. The homestead, however, was very modest; it had changed little since William Pitt Faithfull settled in the 1820s. Women transplanted to rural Australia as the wives and in-laws of pastoralists often had a significant effect on the physical and cultural environment of the property. Aware of the needs of his new wife and her family, Faithfull had a larger and more comfortable homestead built. The Deane women, like many who ended up in regional Australia, significantly contributed to the improvement of the household. Properties such as Springfield were often isolated, requiring them to be largely self-sufficient. Women frequently monitored household supplies, prepared produce, cultivated gardens, organised social activities and generally ensured that pioneering matured into civilised settlement.

During 2006 and 2007 the dress was on display in one of the National Museum of Australia's then permanent galleries, Horizons (exploring the peopling of Australia since 1788). The dress was featured in the exhibit Settlers and Settling In and presented visitors with stories of early Australian migration and settlement. The exhibit included about 36 objects drawn from the extensive Faithfull Family Collection and featured objects reflecting the family's experience as migrants, soldiers, surveyors, teachers and pastoralists. The dress was removed in 2008 when the Horizons gallery was redeveloped and was included in the Australian Journeys gallery when it opened in 2009.

The dress will be on display from June 2011 in the National Museum of Australia's newest permanent gallery, Landmarks: People and Places across Australia. Landmarks traces a broad history of Australia since European colonisation, exploring 10 big themes in the country's past through stories of Australian places and their peoples. The dress will form part of a large display module focussing on the settlement and development of colonial Sydney.

Two rows of silk cord trim used at the cuffs.

Cotton tape drawstring for securing at the top front of the bodice and blue silk ribbon tie at back.

silk ribbon, cotton tape drawstring, silk cord trim

Blue/grey shot, twill weave silk brocade (floating threads on the back). Plain weave cotton lining fabric for bodice and sleeves.

National Museum of Australia

http://www.nma.gov.au/index.html

National Museum of Australia online collection record

http://www.nma.gov.au/collections-search/display?irn=74511

Friends Magazine article: 'Springfield settles', in Volume 17, No 3, September 2006

http://nma.gov.au/about_us/friends/friends_magazine/articles/

National Museum of Australia Education Classroom resources, Investigating pastoral settlement in Australia in the nineteenth century by analysing the National Museum of Australia's Settlers and Settling In exhibit

http://www.nma.gov.au/education/school_resources/permanent_exhibitions/settlers_and_settling_in/

The dress was acquired by the National Museum of Australia as part of the Faithfull family and Springfield Merino Stud collections in November 2004. The dress forms part of a collection that includes costume dating from 1750 to 1970 and material relating to the history of wool-growing, sporting memorabilia, domestic items, children's toys, decorative arts and associated photographs and other ephemera. This collection was gathered by the Faithfull and Maple-Brown families for over 170 years, and not only reflects the development the wool-growing industry, but illuminates daily life during the early settlement of rural Australia.

Minor evidence of insect infestation in the past in the form of grazing and small holes.