2016

MORUYA UNDRESSED

2 September – 7 October

The underwear will be featured in ‘Emmotts Beehive Store’, in a bordello, drying in the kitchen or waiting for washing day in the laundry .See our extensive collection of camisoles, combinations (some crotchless) and corsets. If every picture tells a thousand stories, then these undergarments tell many times that number. Garments such as the maternity corset seem like instruments of torture.

By looking at a sequence of underwear, you can almost tell the life journey of one of Moruya’s residents. From Leila Campbell’s lacy camisoles and an embroidered black silk kimono – garments which were probably in her hope chest -through to the much, much larger mauve cotton combinations she wore later in life. Also on display will be a nightshirt that belonged to Leila’s husband Frank Campbell.

You will probably wonder, as the collections team did, how on earth women had such large families in earlier days when wearing such voluminous underwear

To read more click here.

Prices Cafe

20 May – 7 July

Price’s Café is a museum-style exhibition that celebrates Moruya’s social hub for Aboriginal people in the 1950s & 60s.
Inspired by stories told to Aboriginal artist Cheryl Davison and with words by celebrated Australian author and historian Mark McKenna, the Price’s Café exhibition is presented by South East Arts and in conjunction with the Eurobodalla River of Arts festival.

To read more click here

“Price’s Cafe was very moving, very important. Loved the whole society’s work.”

“What memories this exhibition evokes. The music is just fab.”

“Everyone was welcome.”

 

The Wallpapered Manse: if these walls could talk….

19 March – 30 April

Take a glimpse into the history of domestic interiors and artefacts of houses in the Eurobodalla.

This exhibition uses the collection from the historical Presbyterian Manse in Moruya, and the MDHS historical collections as a touch-stone to rediscover the domestic life of families in these dwellings. Come to the exhibition of wallpapers and artefacts being held at the Moruya Museum 18 March to 8 April 2016.

Peter Freeman, local architect and author of The Wallpapered Manse recognised the significance of this humble but elegant Georgian cottage built in 1865, and created a book, The Wallpapered Manse, to tell the story of one such house, its finishes and its treasures. The book was released in 2013, and was shortlisted for the 2014 NSW Premier’s History Community Awards, a considerable achievement in the field of community history.
For this exhibition, sumptuous wallpapers, newspapers and linoleum dating from the 1860s have been salvaged carefully, the layers revealing some of the history of Moruya. Mr Freeman has brought to life the story of the early Presbyterian church and its characters, such as the Reverend J D Murray, whose photo appears in the Bay Post’s online photo-gallery, along with snippets of wallpaper and historical buildings. These artefacts, together with the considerable domestic collection held by the Society, help tell the story of domestic life in Moruya.

“Thank you for bringing this extraordinary town and its community back to life. Bravo to the range of the display and the descriptions and matched explanations and artefacts. Superb. Moving.”

“Great display bringing back memories of years past. Well documented. Fantastic effort.”