Australian Dress Register

According to the donor the dress dates from 1885 and could have been worn by Eva or Frances Dallinger. Eva was born in 1879 and Frances in 1880 to Jacob Conrad Dallinger and his first wife Mary Carroll (d. 1892). They had eight children - Eva, Frances, George, Jacob, Conrad C, Henry P, Annie C, and Mary M. After Mary's death Jacob married Katherine Dick in 1892. They had six children - Frederick, Joseph, Robert, Albert, Rose C, and Mary.

The Dallinger and Ries families were well known (and still are) in the Albury area. They were among several German Catholic families who settled in the area in the 1850s. These families often intermarried and they have connections with other local descendants of German migrants such as Frauenfelder, Rau, Reis, Knobel, Reuss, Eberle, Eck and Pagenstecher.

It is not known why Pauline Ries was wearing the dress in 1940 and what significance it had for the family. Investigations have not, as yet, revealed the answer.

The donor, Sister Clare Ries.

This dress was displayed at the Albury Library Museum in the 'Growth Rings: unearthing the Albury Botanic Gardens' exhibition from 22 November 2012 until 10 February 2013.

Cluny Lace is a bobbin lace of simple geometric design incorporating circles, diamond blocks or squares of half stitch and rosettes of wheat ear arranged like spokes in a wheel. The geometric design is undulating in the trail (a path that the design travels along).

This form of lace is said to be based on 16th century Genoese laces preserved at the Musee de Cluny in Paris. It re emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century in both France and England.

Originally Cluny lace was made of strong linen or cotton thread and it was produced for clothing and trimming household items. Today Cluny lace is made by machine using different weight threads.

The lace on the child's dress is machine made Cluny of fine cotton ecru thread.

It is an edging lace approx 5cm in width with scalloped edge and picots (a short loop used to enrich the outline). The trail is best described as double curving railway tracks. The in fills of the trail are wheat ears and bar supports.

Red/green shot silk piping around the top of the sleeves, cuffs, and dropped waist.

Machine made Cluny lace of fine cotton ecru thread. The lace has a scalloped edge.

Three wide tucks run horizontally around the skirt below the waistline.

Blue/purple silk fabric to the body of the dress. The pleated and gathered front panel, the ruched skirt panel, cuffs, piping and crenellations on the skirt are in green silk shot with red.

The dress is lined with cotton and linen fabrics.

A shot fabric is a textile in which the warp and weft are of different colours, producing variations in tone owing to the reflection of light. The different colours are most apparent in folds or drapes or when the textile is viewed from different angles in which one element predominates the other.

The dress is machine sewn with hand made buttonholes.

There is evidence of alterations to the dress with the lining showing two sets of darts in two different thread colours.

The back has seven wooden buttons (one missing) and eight hand made button holes. Three wooden buttons are on each cuff. The buttons appear to have been painted a copper brown colour.

The dress is lined with cotton and linen fabrics.

It has been suggested that this is a child's half mourning dress, but there is no definite evidence of this. Staff at the Powerhouse Museum were consulted and their conclusion was that it is not a mourning dress due to the amount of embellisment on the dress. The addition of the green/red shot silk to the piping and pleating on the front of the dress would also add weight to the argument that it is not a mourning dress. It is only the purple/blue colour that would suggest it is for mourning. Mourning dresses for such a young child were not commonly used, especially in rural areas.

The dress forms part of the AlburyCity costume collection.

Sister Clare Ries also donated to the Albury Regional Museum in the 1990s a photograph of her sister, Pauline Ries, wearing this dress in 1940; a handkerchief used by her mother, Rose, on her wedding day in 1932; a souvenir pillow sham from Egypt; a child's dress, child's nightdress and child's combinations from 1907; sporting ribbons belonging to her father, Jack Ries, relating to the Albury Gun Club and the Albury Amateur Cycle Club, 1930-1940 and a photgraph of Jack Ries in 1937.

In generally poor condition. The fabric trim around the neckline is very frayed with losses of fabric. Some of the purple/blue silk is split in places on the bodice, shoulder and skirt. The edges of the skirt tucks have split on the fold lines. The lace on the sleeve cuffs is a coffee brown colour, possibly the original colour. The top button hole on the back has torn through and there is one missing button. The back of the dress near the neck area is damaged and has fabric losses. The area has been very badly repaired and the thread does not match the fabric.