Summary

Cotton towelling tea towel featuring an illustration of a bulldog, the identity for the Footscray Football Club [now the Western Bulldogs] in the VFL/AFL Football League. It was produced as a souvenir during the 1960s by Dickies, a towel weaving plant established in Yarraville, Melbourne in 1927. Dickies operated independently until 1967, when it was taken over by Bonds Industries Limited, manufacturing Dickies and Dri Glo towels.

Footscray Football Club was founded in 1877 as part of the Victorian Football Association (VFA] and established its current home ground Whitten Oval [formerly Western Oval] in 1879. It sported the red, white and blue club colours for much of its history and in 1920 a red, white and blue flag featuring a bulldog was presented to the club president. The club joined the Victorian Football League [VFL] in 1925 and won its first and only VFL/AFL premiership in 1954. Footscray survived a number of merger threats during the 1980s and 1990s and in 1997 the club changed its name to the Western Bulldogs Football Club.

Physical Description

Terry towelling cotton tea towel. It is printed with blue, white and red stripes and a large illustration of a black and white bulldog in the foreground. The reverse side is unprinted white cotton and the two sides have tassled white edges.

Significance

Statement of Significance:
Australian Rules Football is arguably the most important and popular spectator sport in Melbourne and Victoria. It permeates many aspects of the social and commercial lives of Victorians. These items are distinct material manifestations of Australian leisure and popular notions of collecting. They explore the relationships between football club supporter base, community identity, commercialism, consumer culture and collective leisure.

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