Summary

Julienne Tolksdorf expressed her love for her husband through a quilt she created.

The Quilt:

This quilt was made by Julienne Tolksdorf (nee Precious) in 2003 at her home in Moonee Ponds in memory of her husband Fredric (Ferdinand on his passport) who died in 2001. The quilt has been made from shirts which had belonged to Fredric and also includes fabric-printed photographs of him and their son Christopher (who died in 2010) and a pocket containing Fredric's original German passport (HT 57607.1), his small hair comb (HT 57607.2) and a Deutschmark coin (NU 49823). The pocket has a silver Victorian Railways button taken from his work uniform.

The Maker:

Julienne Precious migrated to Australia from England in 1956, and worked as a switchboard operator for PMG/Telecom/Telstra. Ferdinand (Fredric) Tolksdorf migrated to Australia from Germany in 1952 and worked as a train driver for the Victorian Railways. It is unknown how Julienne and Fredric met but they married, lived in Mitcham and had a son Christopher in 1977. They were living in Moonee Ponds by 1998. Julienne developed a passion for quilting in the 1990s. She died in 2017.

The Significance:

This collection contains poignant and evocative objects of memorialising and memory-making. It is reminiscent of both 19th century practices of tangible remembrance of lost loved ones (such as through hair locks) as well as a form of migrant story documentation through such forms as artworks, photo albums and reminiscences.

This particular quilt is an embodiment of the maker's husband through the use of his shirts to make the quilt, the incorporation of printed photographs of him and their son) and the inclusion of personal items (a passport, comb, button and coin).

The maker's own story is entwined with her husband through the creation of the quilt using an artform of particular importance to her that she loved, demonstrating her skill as she created the canvas on which to highlight her husband's life while she herself remained in the background. It is a tangible expression of love.

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