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Making a home in gold-rush Victoria: Plain sewing and the Genteel Woman
Cramer, Lorinda
Cramer, Lorinda
Author
Abstract
In the rush to be rich, contemporary commentators warned that not everyone was suited to life on Victoria’s goldfields. Women unfamiliar with household labour or exertion were cautioned to remain at ‘home’. This article explores the genteel women who migrated to Victoria during the first two decades of the gold rush, and how they negotiated the British ideal of genteel leisure against the demands for domestic labour in the colony. In particular, it interrogates the often-mundane plain sewing practices necessary to make a new home alongside the push for a colonial genteel industriousness, demonstrating how women manipulated standards of living through everyday material practices.
Keywords
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
Australian Historical Studies
Book
Volume
48
Issue
2
Page Range
213-226
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Arts and Humanities
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
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Open Access Status
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Controlled