Women's stories

Handpainted image from book of woman in canoe. Margins of page visible on left and right.
First Nations

A fisher woman of Warrane

Daringa’s short but fascinating life reflects the connection of coastal Aboriginal peoples to the water, and the key role played by women in the fishing economy

A manuscript cookbook from Meroogal

Cooking was an integral part of the rhythm of life for the family at Meroogal, near Nowra on the south coast of New South Wales

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Baubles, brooches & beads

We wear jewellery as articles of dress and fashion and for sentimental reasons – as tokens of love, as symbols of mourning, as souvenirs of travel

Water colour of the Hyde Park barracks showing front wall and gates. Smoke can be seen coming out of chimneys on either side of the 3 story brick barracks building.
Convict Sydney

Female migration

For many women in the UK migration was seen as an opportunity to change their fortunes - to escape poverty, find work and start a family

Three hatpins c1900

Forgotten objects – the hatpin

Rarely seen or used today, hatpins were once an essential item for the fashionable lady

Gunz house, Pymble NSW
Documenting NSW Homes

Gunz house

Pymble NSW

Irish orphan girls at Hyde Park Barracks

This is a story of over 4000 Irish orphans driven from their homeland by the Great Famine

The main bedroom at Kurkulla, Bowral NSW
Documenting NSW Homes

Kurkulla

Bowral NSW