Summary

Tapestry panel titled 'Federation Celebrations Melbourne 1901', designed by cartoonist Bruce Petty. It is the ninth 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.

Bruce Petty was invited to design 'Federation Celebrations Melbourne 1901' by Murray Walker, as he considered him to be the doyen of Australia's tradition of black and white artists. Those artists were associated with The Bulletin, a journal that was influential in galvanising support for the Federation movement among far-flung city and rural workers in the last decade of the 19th century.

Petty depicts the 1901 Federation celebrations in Melbourne with full gusto, portraying the Chinese and German arches, processions in Swanston Street, the Exhibition Building festooned with Empire flags and a general air of excitement that federation had successfully achieved.

Physical Description

Rectangular tapestry featuring a line-drawn cartoon in black, with the exception of coloured flags, against a white background. The cartoon features the Royal Exhibition Building surrounded by various figures and scenarios.

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