Summary

Pair of hall curtains made by members of the Dean's Marsh community between 1939 and 1948 (they are dated on the curtains 1947). Members of the Country Women's Association (CWA) were given a sugar bag and asked to embroider it. The relevant minutes (held at the CWA headquarters in Toorak) record that 'members were to work on squares cut from sugar bags which must be washed and pressed well before starting work.' The panel 'British Forever' was probably made by Mrs Henry McDonald. The project lapsed during World War II but was renewed in 1946 and finally completed in December 1948. The curtains were presented to the community in 1950, and were hung on a metal rod in the Dean's Marsh Hall from 10 November that year.

Years later the curtains were taken down and stored. In 1990, following the donation of the Birregurra curtains to Museums Victoria, Mrs Margaret Stewart of Dean's Marsh was instrumental in persuading the committee of management of the hall to donate the curtains to the Museum.

The curtains were handed over to the Museum at a function in Dean's Marsh in March 1992, attended by over 40 people, including some of the relatives of women who had embroidered the curtains and pieced them together.

Physical Description

A pair of curtains made from hessian bags, embroidered, sewn together and backed, with English embroidery patterns, CWA emblems, other animals and abstract patterns. Row of metal rings at the top of the curtains.

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