Summary

Cream silk and lace wedding dress, worn by Stella Constance Rehfisch (1885-1955) at her marriage to Walter Tulloch Le Roy Gude in Ballarat in 1913. She is wearing the dress in a photograph acquired at the same time: MM 134300.

Stella was the daughter of Charlotte and Hermann Rehfisch, said to have been the first Jewish couple to marry in the small town of Hamilton, Victoria. They married in the Masonic Hall as a substitute for a synagogue. Hermann became a wool broker and skin and hide merchant in Ballarat, trading as H. Rehfisch & Co. Stella was one of four children raised in a genteel household, and was a talented violin student. She studied violin under Walter Gude, a well-known local musician, teacher and conductor of St Patrick's cathedral choir and orchestra in Ballarat. Walter was an older man who had never married, and supported his widowed mother and sister. At the age of 42 he fell in love with the 27-year-old Stella. They were to have a long and happy marriage.

Their wedding took place on 19 March 1913 at a Methodist church in Ballarat. Stella's dress is home-made, and may have been made by Mrs Minnie Heinze, mother of another of Walter's students, the talented young Bernard Heinze (later a world-famous musician and conductor). Alternatively, Mrs Heinze may have supplied the lace as a gift. She certainly gifted a small doll to the bride, dressed in a similar garment. The doll's name was Mona, after Mrs Heinze's daughter Ramona.

The dress was originally worn with a plain sash and a veil, now missing, but depicted in a photograph that accompanied the donation. (The donor believes the sash deteriorated over time before being discarded.) The dress has been altered with simple running stitch at a date unknown, slightly reducing its bodice size and raising the hem-line of the lace over-skirt to reveal the brocade beneath.

Stella and Walter raised two daughters, Eleanor (Nornie) and Gilda, in Ballarat before moving to Melbourne on the eve of World War II. Both of their daughters were artistic, and Nornie's paintings are now held in collections including the National Gallery of Victoria and the Parliament House collection, Canberra. (Nornie painted a portrait entitled 'The Wedding Dress' in 1976, now held in a public collection, which depicts this dress.) Walter passed away in 1949; Stella passed away six years later.

Nornie's daughter Anne Scott-Pendlebury later wore the wedding dress during a performance of the Anton Chekov play 'Three Sisters' at the Muse Theatre in Grattan St, Carlton, around 1967. Anne was then aged 21, early in her career as a professional performer. She wore a chemise under the dress, a non-original sash and white tights. The play was written in 1900, so the dress was somewhat late in style, but served its purpose.

Physical Description

Wedding dress, comprising sleveless cream silk shift covered with cream machine lace overskirt, bodice and short sleeves. The shift would probably fall above the ankle, and is trimmed at the hem with a wide band of glossy cream brocade, with seven matching covered buttons at centre of front and back. The lace overskirt is shorter, revealing the brocade, and has front and rear vertical seams, split up from the hem and gathered slightly into the seam to create a full effect. The pattern on the lace increases in density towards the lower hem. The bodice has a square neckline, with v-shaped front lace panel. The lace over each shoulder joins at the back to form a v-shape at the waist, secured with brass press studs. Underneath the lace on the shoulders are separate short lace sleeves, gathered at their openings. The dress has a central back opening, secured with more brass press studs. The dress has been simply altered with running stitch in several places. The overskirt has been shortened with a fold at the waist; several seams are also modified inside the bodice.

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