Print this page What They Wore: Clothing Through Australian History

Clothing tells stories about who we are, where we come from and how we live. This engaging course explores Australian history through the clothes worn by characters from twelve classic Australian novels. Along the way, participants will discover how fashion reflects changing technologies, trade, prosperity, gender roles and social expectations. Although not an art class, simple drawing activities will help bring these historical characters to life as you sketch period clothing using provided templates. Combining history, literature and creativity, this course offers a fresh perspective on Australia's cultural heritage. 

DELIVERY MODE

Face to face

COURSE RESOURCES

• Dark, Eleanor. The Timeless Land.
• Grenville, Kate. The Secret River.
• Clarke, Marcus. For the Term of His Natural Life.
• Spence, Catherine Helen.  Clara Morrison.
• Davitt, Ellen.  Force & Fraud.
• Hume, Fergus. The Mystery of the Hansom Cab.
• Franklin, Miles. My Brilliant Career.
• Turner, Ethel. The Cub trilogy.
• Tennant, Kylie. The Battlers.
• Cusack, Dymphna.  Come in Spinner.
• Niland, Darcy. The Shiralee.
• Cleary, Jon. Helga’s Web.

COURSE OUTLINE

Author, plot, and key characters in these novels, and what sort of clothing would have been suitable for those characters:

• 1788: Timeless Land/Eleanor Dark
• 1805: Secret River/Kate Grenville
• 1830s For the Term of His Natural Life /Marcus Clarke
• 1850s: Clara Morrison/Catherine Helen Spence
• 1860s: Force & Fraud/Ellen Davitt
• 1880s: Mystery of the Hansom Cab/Fergus Hume
• 1901: My Brilliant Career/Miles Franklin
• WW1: The Cub/Ethel Turner
• Depression: The Battlers/Kylie Tennant
• WW2:  Come in Spinner/Dymphna Cusack
• 1950s: The Shiralee/Darcy Niland
• 1970s: Helga’s Web/Jon Cleary

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Describe the cultural contexts, and achievements of these twelve Australian writers.
• Recount the plots, characters, literary quality, and the social history of their settings of these twelve classic Australian novels.
• Identify twelve eras of clothing in Australia according to class, gender, and occupation, and the materials and skills available at the time
• Practise choosing and drawing appropriate clothing for characters according to personality as well as position