Summary

Alternative Name(s): Report Card

Certificate of Inspector's Examination of the needlework work of Isabella (Bella) McEwan (later Mrs Walter Hislop), August 1881. Bella, aged 11 and a student at Collingwood State School, had worked a sampler of seam and hem stitching on linen. Her work was confirmed by Head Teacher J. Horsfall. The certificate was made by Griffith & Spaven, Typos., 1881.
The subjects examined were writing, reading, comprehension, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, needlework.

The sampler (SH 96.227) was exhibited at the Melbourne International Exhibition. It was handed down from Isabella Hislop to her daughter Una England (nee Hislop), who kept it in her sewing basket for many years. It was Una's granddaughter, Wendy Brown, who donated it to the museum, together with the certificate.

Physical Description

The report is printed on cream card with a fine line border. The text is decorated with scrolls and filligree and there is an illustration of a young Japanese boy sitting under a palm tree and fishing. There are smaller illustrations of a lake with ducks and a crane. The report card has a blank printed area in which the students results and name have been written in black ink. The subjects examined and graded with a 'P' were writing [handwritten to replaced printed 'physics'], reading, comprehension, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, needlework.

Significance

Reason for Acquisition: Transfer from the Trustees of the Royal Exhibition Building. The Royal Exhibition Building has played an important role in Melbourne's social, commercial and sporting life since it was built for the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880. The international exhibitions staged there from 1880 onwards provided the fledgling Australian colonies with a forum in which to showcase their commercial and industrial progress to the world. School children also took part and these items (96.227-228, 96.1176) relate to a sampler exhibited in the 1880 Exhibition by Miss Isabella McEwen, a pupil at Collingwood State School. It is an example of local community interest and involvement, which spanned generations, in what was the first international exhibition staged in Melbourne.

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