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EXPLORE THE WMA OBJECTS COLLECTION

The Wom­en’s Muse­um of Aus­tralia col­lec­tion holds over 2500 objects includ­ing domes­tic tech­nol­o­gy, pho­tographs, man­u­scripts, cloth­ing, jew­ellery and books.

Digi­tis­ing the col­lec­tion and mak­ing it avail­able online is an evolv­ing resource that will, over time, rep­re­sent many more of the Museum’s col­lec­tion highlights.

You can also explore our Library, which holds books and audio­vi­su­al mate­ri­als by click­ing HERE.

  • Celluloid Doll

    Cel­lu­loid doll with blue eyes dressed in off white hand made knit­ted bon­net, dress, booties and pants.

    Maker: Lucky Toys

  • Set of 5 metal canisters

    Set of 5 green met­al can­is­ters with lids which have black knobs. The can­is­ters have the words a, FLOUR b, SUG­AR c, RICE d, SAGO e. TEA print­ed on them.

  • Dressing Table

    White wood­en dress­ing table on turned wood­en legs. Chest of draw­ers has 2 small draw­ers at the top and 3 long draw­ers. On top of the chest of draw­ers is a mir­ror in the cen­tre with a small draw­er on… Read more…

  • Cotton Fabric

    A piece of white cot­ton fab­ric with broderie anglaise trim.

  • Petticoat - child's

    Small child’s white cot­ton sleeve­less pet­ti­coat with broderie anglaise trim on the skirt and draw­string neck.

  • Camisole

    White cot­ton camisole with cro­cheted short sleeves and upper half. Open­ing at the front with 3 dif­fer­ent white but­tons, with a loop of cot­ton from the bot­tom button.

  • Meat cover

    Oval shaped home­made met­al meat cov­er with a met­al han­dle on the top.

  • Bread tin

    Hand­made met­al bread tin, fas­tened with 3 riv­ets on each corner

    Maker: Jim Turner

  • Baby bath

    a) white paint­ed met­al oval shaped bath with a han­dle on each end b) white paint­ed met­al stand with shelf at the base. Base has two holes for bowl and soap dish. c) white enam­el bowl with a dark blue… Read more…

  • High chair

    Wood­en High chair paint­ed green Has a tray cov­ered with brown contact?/Laminate? which can be lift­ed and placed behind the seat. Has a step for child’s feet to rest on.

  • The Australian Pioneer Aviatrix Tapestry

    On Inter­na­tion­al Women’s Day, March 8 2008, this wool tapes­try was pre­sent­ed to the Muse­um to hon­our Aus­tralian women involved in pio­neer­ing avi­a­tion. The Aus­tralian Pio­neer Avi­a­trix Tapes­try found a… Read more…

    Maker: The Tableland Tapestry Weavers, principal weavers Lynda Price and Dale Roger-Jones and hundreds of volunteers

  • Grapevine motif gold brooch

    An 18ct gold brooch shaped like a grapevine, twigs and grapes with safe­ty chain and pin. The sym­bol of vines and grapes was a pop­u­lar motif in Aus­tralian gold­fields jew­ellery man­u­fac­ture from the… Read more…

    Maker: G.R. Addis

  • Silver daffodil brooch

    A fine­ly worked ster­ling sil­ver brooch shaped like a daf­fodil with leaves with a safe­ty chain and pin. While the daffodil’s pri­ma­ry sym­bol­ism is that of new begin­nings, rebirth and the com­ing of… Read more…

  • Gold curb link bracelet with heart shaped clasp

    9ct rose gold hol­low curb link bracelet with pad­lock clasp and safe­ty chain.This bracelet looks heavy, but the curb links are hol­low, as was com­mon for this style of jew­ellery in the ear­ly 1900s.… Read more…

    Maker: J.W. Wendt

  • Gold brooch with opal

    This 18ct gold brooch fea­tures a crown shape motif with an opal at the cen­tre and gold-plat­ed tas­sels. These ele­ments reflect a fas­ci­na­tion with the Ori­ent, which was pop­u­lar in the Vic­to­ri­an and… Read more…

  • Celluloid doll

    This cel­lu­loid doll is dressed with a hand made cot­ton cloth nap­py held in place with two safe­ty pins, frilled syn­thet­ic fab­ric night­ie and has a pink quilt­ed syn­thet­ic fab­ric bed jack­et and… Read more…

  • Child's scooter / walker

    This walk­er was made using plans pub­lished in Farmer’s Week­ly, a mag­a­zine pub­lished by the pri­ma­ry Pro­duc­ers Asso­ci­a­tion of WA (now the WA Farmer’s Fed­er­a­tion). There were oth­er plans in the… Read more…

    Maker: Sid Groves, the donor's father

  • Joan Kirner, the other men in my life, 1990

    Joan Kirn­er, Press Pho­to­graph, 1990 Signed on reverse: JKPremier 1990The oth­er men in my life!Age Pho­to Tak­en in 1990 when Joan Kirn­er became Vic­to­ri­a’s first woman Premier.

  • Joan Kirner 60th birthday party signed fundraising poster

    Poster adver­tis­ing Joan Kirn­er’s 60th Birth­day par­ty to be held at the Plaza Ball­room in Mel­bourne on Sun­day 21 June 1998. It is signed upper left Joan Kirn­er in blue ball­point pen. Joan originally… Read more…

  • Scrapbook - Knitting and Crocheting Ladies', Gents', Children's Wear

    This scrap book con­tains pat­terns and adver­tise­ments for knit­ting and cro­chet­ing, com­piled by Mien Blom.

    Maker: Mien Blom

  • Pattern book: "Autumn Originals" Thorobred Scheepjeswol

    * This book con­tains pat­terns for knit­ting. The cov­er of the book is glossy with a woman stand­ing with a big smile wear­ing a jumper. It con­tains five free fash­ion pat­terns for you to knit. It… Read more…

    Maker: THOROBRED SCHEEPJESWOL

  • "The Harmony Guide to 100's More Crochet Stitches"

    This book con­tains pat­terns and adver­tise­ments. Tra­di­tion­al­ly cro­chet was worked almost exclu­sive­ly in very fine cot­ton yarn to cre­ate or embell­ish house­hold items such as cur­tains, table cloths or… Read more…

    Maker: Proost International Book Production

  • "It's a Baby" - Pattern book by Dale Burdett

    This book con­tains pat­terns and adver­tise­ments. The author is an artist, design­er and a teacher. The book also con­tains col­or com­par­i­son chart like DMC,ANCHOR and J&P COATS. The patterns… Read more…

    Maker: Dale Burnett's Needle and Craft Store

  • Compact

    Com­pact: 8 cm wide by 6.3 cm deep (not includ­ing clasp) by 1 cm high; con­tains sponge and under the door marked with a W (or crown) with in an invert­ed tri­an­gle beneath KG is a bor­der of…

  • "Family Portraits in Capricorn: Twilleys" Book No. 716

    This book con­tains pat­terns and hints to make your gar­ments look more pro­fes­sion­al. Always remem­ber to check your ten­sion. All mea­sure­ments are cal­cu­lat­ed to the exact ten­sion stat­ed at the… Read more…

    Maker: PANDA YARNS [INTERNATIONAL] PTY. LTD.

  • ''The Creators; Exclusive Hand Knits from International Designers''

    There is sel­dom to be found in Aus­tralia one pub­li­ca­tion that has a vari­ety of knit­ting pat­terns, fea­tur­ing over­seas designs but using local­ly avail­able pure wool yarns. Our belief that the… Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Wool Corporation.

  • ''The Complete Mens Sweater Book in Patons 8 Ply Yarns'' Book 2109

    This book con­tains pat­terns for Dia­mond Sweater, Easy Pip Rib Sweater and Aran Style Sweater to name a few. It has also some help­ful hints like knit­ting up stitch­es, back stitch seam, slip stitch… Read more…

    Maker: Patons

  • Pattern book, ''Thorobred Scheepjeswol 1985 Designer Collection'' No. 6231

    This is a lim­it­ed edi­tion pat­tern book of design­er col­lec­tion. It con­tains the Design­er Sweater by Denise Roth­field, Koala Jumper by Graeme Last, and Jack­et in Three Yarns by Yvonne Newell to name a… Read more…

    Maker: Thorobred Scheepjeswol Ltd.

  • 250 Superb Pies & Pastries

    250 Superb Pies & Pas­tries. Mea­sures 13 cm wide by 17.5 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Forty-eight num­bered pages. Bound with two sta­ples. The cov­er has an orange stick­er with ​“25¢”… Read more…

    Maker: Culinary Arts Institute

  • Australian Women's Weekly All About Pastry Book 1

    Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly All About Pas­try Book 1. Mea­sures 28.5 cm wide by 21.5 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Six­teen num­bered pages. Had been bound with a sta­ple. May 10, 1967.

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • Reader's Digest Barbecue Cookery

    Read­er’s Digest Bar­be­cue Cook­ery: A guide to out­door meals. Mea­sures 19 cm wide by 13 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Fifty-six num­bered pages. Bound with two staples.

    Maker: Reader's Digest

  • Davis Dainty Dishes

    Davis Dain­ty Dish­es. Mea­sures 12 cm wide by 18 cm long. Some cov­er cor­ners torn off. Six­ty-sev­en num­bered pages. Bound with two sta­ples. The right fly­leaf has inscribed, in the top, with what… Read more…

    Maker: The Davis Gelatine Organisation

  • Glass Kerosene Lamp

    Glass kerosene lamp. Clear glass oil lamp; base and man­tel only. Mea­sures 27 cm high; the base diam­e­ter is 14 cm.

  • Your Wine Guide

    “Your Wine Guide. Pre­sent­ed by McWilliam’s Wines.” Mea­sures 18.3 cm wide by 26 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Front low­er right cor­ner had been bent at one time. Twen­ty-three num­bered pages.… Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • Suitcase and Stockings

    Suit­case Card­board, met­al and fab­ric suit­case has two keyed clasps locks. The inte­ri­or is lined with a crinkly fab­ric. Stock­ings The stock­ings have nev­er been used are in the box. Made by Kolotex… Read more…

    Maker: Kolotex Hosiery (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  • Supplement to Australian Women's Weekly: Cook Book by Dione Lucas

    Sup­ple­ment to Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly: Cook Book by Dione Lucas. Mea­sures 18 cm wide by 26 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Six­ty-four num­bered pages. Bound with two sta­ples. No date. Read more…

  • Australian Women's Weekly Farmhouse Cook Book

    Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly Farm­house Cook Book. Mea­sures 18.8 cm wide by 26 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Six­teen num­bered pages. Bound with glue. June 21, 1972

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • Collection of assorted recipes

    Mol­ly Clark col­lec­tion of assort­ed recipes: Ali­son Burt’s Cook­ery Cards ​“Chick­en Pie with Herb Top­ping”, Poul­try recipe 8 Twelve pages from a book (pp. 11 – 16, 31 – 38) con­tain­ing But­ter Sandwich… Read more…

    Maker: various

  • The Kookaburra Cookery Book

    The Kook­abur­ra Cook­ery Book. Mea­sures 12.5 cm wide by 18.8 cm long by 3 cm high. No tears, stains, spots. Three hun­dred thir­ty num­bered pages. Bound. Sep­a­rat­ing some­what from bind­ing. No date. Read more…

    Maker: The Lady Victoria Buxton Girls’ Club

  • Australian Women's Weekly Curry Cookbook

    Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly Cur­ry Cook­book. Eight page spe­cial, with pages num­bered 75 – 86. Mea­sures 21.3 cm wide by 28.3 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Had been bound with three sta­ples. April… Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • Good Housekeeping's Homemade Sweets

    Good House­keep­ing’s Home­made Sweets. Mea­sures 18.5 cm wide by 23.5 cm long. The cov­ers are torn from the rest. Between pages 28 and 29 is a piece of tape which once held the back cov­er to the… Read more…

    Maker: The National Magazine Company, Ltd.

  • Australian Women's Weekly 50 Lovely Hot Puddings

    Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly 50 Love­ly Hot Pud­dings. Mea­sures 28.5 cm wide by 21.7 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Had been fold­ed in half. Six­teen num­bered pages. Had been bound with a staple.… Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • CWA of NT Buffalo Cook Book

    CWA of NT Buf­fa­lo Cook Book. Mea­sures 16.3 cm wide by 23 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Fifty-two num­bered pages. Bound with two sta­ples. Appears to have not been used.

    Maker: The C.W.A. of the N.T. Inc.

  • Australian Women's Weekly 80 Easy Biscuits

    Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly 80 Easy Bis­cuits. Mea­sures 28.5 cm wide by 21.5 cm long. No tears. In the upper right cor­ner is a stain that has bled through to page 4. No oth­er stains, spots. Sixteen… Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • Williams Cider Vinegar Recipes

    Williams Cider Vine­gar Recipes. Door hang­er shaped. Mea­sures 7.5 cm wide by 13 cm long. Con­tains two recipes: Wal­dorf Sal­ad and Lamb Paprika.

    Maker: Williams

  • Australian Women's Weekly 50 Easy Economical Cakes

    Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly 50 Easy Eco­nom­i­cal Cakes. Mea­sures 28.5 cm wide by 22 cm long. No tears but some stains and spots. Had been fold­ed in half. Six­teen num­bered pages. Had been bound with… Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • Beef and Lamb

    Beef and Lamb. Makes a good square meal for around two dol­lars. Mea­sures 10.2 cm wide by 11.5 cm length. Bind­ed with two sta­ples. Sev­en­teen unnum­bered pages.

    Maker: Australian Meat and Live-Stock Corporation

  • The Nestlé’s Winter Weather Cook Book

    The Nestlé’s Win­ter Weath­er Cook Book. Mea­sures 28 cm wide by 37 cm long. The front and back cov­ers have rips. No stains or spots. Six­teen num­bered pages. Bound with two sta­ples. May 5, 1965. Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • American Recipes Tested in SA

    Amer­i­can Recipes Test­ed in SA. Mimeo­graphed pages bound between green card­stock. The cov­er title was hand­writ­ten using a green felt mark­er. Amer­i­can RecipesTEST­ED IN S.A.2/ Mea­sures 20 cm width by… Read more…

  • Australian Women's Weekly The Sweet Foods of Christmas

    Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly The Sweet Foods of Christ­mas. Mea­sures 28.8 cm wide by 21.5 cm long. The front cov­er has a sec­tion miss­ing. Six­teen num­bered pages. Had been bound with a staple.… Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • Maggi Vegetables & Pasta

    Mag­gi Veg­eta­bles & Pas­ta. Mea­sures 13.5 cm wide by 19 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Twen­ty-six recipes/​pages. Bound with two staples.

    Maker: Maggi

  • Australian Women's Weekly Preserves and Preserving

    Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly Pre­serves and Pre­serv­ing. Mea­sures 28.5 cm wide by 21 cm long. No tears, stains, spots. Six­teen num­bered pages. Had been bound with a sta­ple. Feb­ru­ary 14, 1968. Read more…

    Maker: The Australian Women's Weekly

  • Doily

    Doily. Mea­sures 22 cm diameter.

  • Doily

    Doily. Mea­sures 24 cm diameter.

  • Doily

    Doily. Mea­sures 21.5 cm diameter.

  • Doily

    Doily.

  • Doily

    Doily.

  • Doily

    Doily.

  • Doily

    Doily.

  • Traycloth

    Embroi­dered traycloth.

  • Traycloth

    Embroi­dered traycloth.

  • Traycloth

    Tray­cloth, scal­lops along one edge curled, no longer squar­ish due to hav­ing been folded.

  • Handkerchief

    Hand­ker­chief — Admi­rals Jel­li­coe, Lapeyrere & Kitch­en­er. Mea­sures 32 cm wide by 30 cm long. Some stains. No label.

  • Handkerchief

    Yel­low hand­ker­chief, white embroi­dered in cor­ner. No label.

  • Handkerchief

    Hand­ker­chief, Roy­al Vis­it 1949. Mea­sures 29.5 cm wide by 30 cm long. No markings.

  • Mantle Clock

    Wood­en, man­tle clock. No man­u­fac­tur­er name vis­i­ble. Mea­sures 40.5 cm wide by 21.5 cm high by 14 cm deep.

  • Hat Pin

    Hat pin; from tip; 6.7 cm pin length, 9.9 cm total length, 2.6 cm width. The pin is intri­cate. At the top and base are white, round pearls; the top one big­ger than the bot­tom. Between the pearls… Read more…

  • Hat Pin

    Hat pin. The top is an oval-shaped bead, gold in colour with black dots. Under it is a clus­ter of pearls, in dif­fer­ent colours: black and off-white.

  • Hat Pin

    Hat pin. The top is oval-shaped, bluish-white in colour under the gold that has flecked off. It is held at the base with a sol­id gold-coloured prong, scal­loped around the top with rows of waves… Read more…

  • Card of Hooks and Eyes

    Card of hooks and eyes, size 0.

  • Card of Hooks and Eyes

    Card of hooks and eyes, size 4.

  • Needlecard

    Needle­card.

  • Steamer

    Steam­er (part colan­der insert).

  • Diamond Petrol Iron

    Dia­mond petrol iron.

  • Vegetable/Puree Maker

    Vegetable/​purée mak­er food.

  • Vega Cream and Milk Separator

    Vega cream and milk sep­a­ra­tor (which comes apart into eight parts).

  • Framed movie poster "The Overlanders"

    Framed movie poster of the 1946 film ​“The Over­lan­ders” star­ring Daphne Camp­bell (Calder). Some of the film was shot on loca­tion near Alice Springs. The woman star of the film donat­ed this poster to… Read more…

  • Name Badge

    Name badge for Mrs Joan CAIRNS, Anaes­thet­ic Technician.

  • Membership Certificate

    Mem­ber­ship cer­tifi­cate for the Aus­tralian Soci­ety of Anaes­thet­ic and Oper­at­ing The­atre Tech­ni­cians (ASAOTT) in blue card folder.

  • Enamel Badge - Australia Society of Anaesthetists

    Blue enam­el on gold badge for the Aus­tralian Soci­ety of Anaes­thet­ic and Oper­at­ing The­atre Tech­ni­cians (ASAOTT).

  • Enamel Badge - Australia Society of Anaesthectic

    Red and white enam­el on gold badge for the Aus­tralian Soci­ety of Anaes­thet­ic and Oper­at­ing The­atre Tech­ni­cians (ASAOTT).

  • Ice Box

    Ice box, hand­made oblong shaped, hinged box with lid, divid­ed into two inter­nal com­part­ments. Han­dle on each nar­row end and two catch­es for fas­ten­ing (one missing).

  • Ledger

    Ledger, 520 pages, lined paper, nar­row and oblong in shape and bound in blue buck­am over thick card cov­ers with brown leatherette along spine and across cor­ners. Each page lists dif­fer­ent people’s… Read more…

  • Gloves

    Pair of wom­en’s gloves, black, cro­chet cot­ton, with scal­loped wrist edges and dia­mond pat­tern on backs.

  • Salt Spoon

    Salt spoon, of elec­tro-plat­ed nick­el sil­ver. Trade­mark EPNS EP.

  • Booklet "Call Sign Directory"

    Book­let ​“Call Sign Direc­to­ry”, hand­typed, 18 pages, RFDS direc­to­ry from 1971 with blue paper cover.

  • Oil Lamp

    Oil lamp, met­al oil con­tain­er with turned wood­en stand. The glass chim­ney and shade are miss­ing. Ca ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ry, Amer­i­can. Trade­mark: ALADDIN­MAN­TEL LAMP CO. N‑U-Type. MOD­EL B.…

    Maker: Mantel Lamp Company.

  • Vase

    Vase, of met­al, patterned.

  • Butter Churner

    But­ter churn­er: tin lid with cast iron han­dle and turn­ing mech­a­nism and wood­en pad­dles. NATION­AL TRUST paint­ed in yel­low around lid. The glass jar is miss­ing. Hand­writ­ten label: ​“From Mrs P.… Read more…

  • Rose Compact, Lipstick, Rouge

    Rose com­pact, lip­stick, and rouge. Made of brass [?]. Com­pact emp­ty inside. Lip­stick etched on bot­tom 1955 KJV (? V) and had con­tained red lipstick.

  • Pattern book, ''Easy - to - crochet Tartan Rugs'', 1999

    This book is from The Aus­tralian Wom­en’s Week­ly Craft Library. It con­tains some adver­tise­ments, gen­er­al instruc­tions, like the mate­r­i­al to use, the mea­sure­ments and the method they use to make a… Read more…

    Maker: Network Distribution Company

  • Tobacco

    A jar con­tain­ing three pieces of tobacco.

  • Cake Decorating Tips and Piping Bag

    Cake dec­o­rat­ing tips and pip­ing bag. Bag and six (6) tips. The tips are marked Durcher by IceMaster.

    Maker: Durcher by IceMaster

  • Silk Negligee

    Full length white silk nég­ligée with hand-made lace bodice. No label, no size.

  • Pattern book, ''Patons; Men Who've Made It - In Misti''

    This book con­tains some adver­tise­ments and pat­terns for mak­ing men’s jumpers, cardi­gans and vest. It also explains what nee­dles to use and the acces­sories like a stitch hold­er and the abbreviation… Read more…

    Maker: COATS PATONS [AUSTRALIA]

  • CWA Air Branch No. 1 Minute Book

    CWA [Coun­try Wom­en’s Asso­ci­a­tion] Air Branch No. 1 minute book. The cov­er is dark green and made of card­board with fab­ric bind­ing. In blue ink is writ­ten, in the top right cor­ner, ​“MINUTE BOOK” and… Read more…

  • WEL Alice Springs Minute Book, 1975-76

    Min­utes Book for WEL [Women’s Elec­toral Lob­by (WEL)] Alice Springs, 1975 – 76, Gillen Pri­ma­ry School. Blue note­book, mea­sur­ing 20.5 cm width by 26 cm length, with ​“5020 NOTE­BOOK” under­lined and… Read more…

  • "The Harmony Guide to 100's More Crochet-Stitches"

    This book is a knit­ting dic­tio­nary and explains what is need­ed before start­ing to knit, knit­ting pat­tern stitch­es, patch­work motifs, hints and pro­fes­sion­al fin­ish. It also con­tains advice on how to… Read more…

    Maker: Gordon and Gotch [Australiasia] Ltd.

  • Stroud Berlin upright piano

    STROUD BERLIN PIANO cir­ca 1920 The Pianola Com­pa­ny, New York HIS­TO­RY This well trav­elled piano was bought sec­ond hand by Eileen Kath­leen Kempe in the ear­ly 1920’s when the Kempe fam­i­ly were living… Read more…

    Maker: The Pianola Company

  • Upright Piano

    UPRIGHT PIANO Made in Eng­land, cir­ca 1932 by E. Belling HIS­TO­RY Oral his­to­ry states this piano arrived in Alice Springs in 1928, and was wheeled to dance halls on a trol­ley after being purchased… Read more…

    Maker: E. Belling