Summary

Note: This object reflects a cultural stereotype. Such representations are not condoned by Museums Victoria which considers them to be racist. Historical distance and context do not excuse or erase this fact.

Shirt based on a Native American costume, circa 1950s. It is a child's costume, homemade from hessian Colonial Sugar bags, and was used and owned by Bill Boyd in the 1950s.

The William Boyd Childhood Collection includes most of the childhood possessions of William (Bill) Boyd, who was born in 1947 and raised in the Victorian town of Maryborough. Kept by Lillian Boyd (Bill's mother) for decades, upon her death the Collection was donated by Bill to the former Museum of Childhood at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. When the Museum of Childhood closed it was transferred to Museums Victoria.

Physical Description

Costume made of hessian shirt and pants with deliberately frayed outer seams of legs/sleeves. Native American style feathered headdress, hessian strip/multicolour feathers.

Significance

Encompassing toys, books, clothing and other items, the William Boyd Childhood Collection is rare in its comprehensiveness: even ephemera such as the back of a Cornflakes box are included. The Collection demonstrates a range of prominent themes in the lives of postwar Victorian children, such as the ability to 'make do' under austere circumstances; the shift in toy manufacture towards plastic materials and mass production; the continuing cultural influence of Britain; the increasing embrace of American popular culture; the prominence of gender roles; and the popularity of transport and war themed toys for boys.

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