Summary
Tapestry panel titled 'We All Live in Australia', designed by Murray Walker using images created by Aboriginal school children from Echuca (a town on the Murray in Victoria), Cape Barren Island (on the northern tip of Tasmania), and Bathurst Island (on the north western tip of Australia). These young Aboriginal children expressed their hopes for the future of Australia. Three passages of text sit above and below a wondrous collection of "imagined" animals.
This tapestry is the first panel of ten in the Federation Tapestry Suite woven by the Victorian Tapestry Workshop (known as the Australian Tapestry Workshop since 2010), to mark the Centenary of Federation in 2001. Murray Walker, the Tapestry's principal artist/designer, visited the community schools, armed with woven samples from the Victoria Tapestry Workshop. He discussed the Federation Tapestry project and worked with the children to obtain a large quantity of graphic material.
Physical Description
Rectangular tapestry featuring a design divided into three sections. On the left side is a mid-blue panel on which coloured drawings, outlined in black, of Australian animals and people are woven, surrounding a light blue and red map of Australia. The centre panel features a black background with brightly coloured images of animals of yellow, blue, purple, green, orange, red and white. The right section is also mid blue and features images of sea creatures and crocodiles. Inscriptions are woven along the upper edge, and lower edges in the left and right panels.
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Donation from Victorian Tapestry Workshop, 2001
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Maker
Victorian Tapestry Workshop, South Melbourne, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, by 2001
Known as the Australian Tapestry Workshop since 2010. -
Designer
Mr Murray Walker, Fitzroy, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, by 2001
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Inscriptions
Upper edge: People should care about each other Lower edge: 'I Want Australia To Be happy / And I Want My Family To Be Happy / I Want The Animals To Be Free / I Want Us All To Be Happy All / Of Our Lives. I Want All The Trees / Too Grow Happy.'
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Exhibition Collection Management
5250 mm (Length)
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Keywords
Australian Centenary of Federation, 2001, Federation Tapestry, Handcrafts, Weaving