Summary

Red and white checked polyester jacket taileored by the brand 'Sax Altman' for Myer, and owned by Lindsay Motherwell. It was probably purchased for him by his wife Sylvia who worked at Myer store in Melbourne. Lindsay was quite a fashionable dresser, and worked in a menswear store briefly.

Sylvia Boyes (a South African-born orphan) and Lindsay Motherwell (a Melbourne-born drummer) met in Cape Town, South Africa in 1967 through their theatre connections. They fell in love but due to apartheid laws were forced to leave South Africa to marry in London. They subsequently relocated permanently to Melbourne in 1970.

Physical Description

Single-breasted red and white checked suit jacket. It has wide lapels and two white buttons. There are three external pockets, one on the left breast and two on the hips. There is also an internal pocket on the left-hand side. There are two small white buttons on the cuffs for decoration only. The inside seams are covered with white piping. The brand is Sax Altman, and it was tailored for Myer Australia. It is made of 100% polyester.

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection provides a significant opportunity to represent political and personal freedom as a motivation for migrating to Australia within the international context of both apartheid in South Africa and the end of the White Australia policy in Australia. The personal narrative is well documented and the objects provide a material way to follow the lives of both Lindsay and Sylvia, both separately and where they coincide in South Africa and onwards together to Melbourne. While this is ultimately a love story, it plays out through the collection against the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, sixties London and an increasingly multicultural Australia.

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