Home | Museums & Exhibitions

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Last updated: 01-Aug-2006

Museums & Exhibitions

Each State and Territory in Australia has museums which include lace and costumes among their collections. Unfortunately, few have any part of their collections on permanent display. Most musuems are willing to show lacemakers their collections if they make an appointment. Other conditions as to time and numbers may also be imposed. We hope the information and links on this page will assist lacemakers find collections of interest. If you know of a collection of interest, whether on permanent display or not, please let us know so that we may seek permission to include it.

• Museums
  • Power House Museum
  • The Lace Place
  • Australian Museums Online
  • Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
  • Narryna Heritage Museum
  • Port Macquarie Historical Society
  • Macleay River Historical Society
• Exhibitions

The Lace Study Centre
This unique resource provides access to a selection of about 300 of the most significant handmade laces in the museum's collection. Used by lacemakers, embroiderers, collectors, fashion and textile designers and students, the Lace Study Centre responds to a growing community interest in lace.

In many parts of the world people are making and collecting lace to an extent not seen since before World War I. The first piece of lace acquired by the museum was donated in 1890. A small handkerchief with a cutwork and needle lace border, it was made in Denmark for the Exhibition of Women's industries held in Sydney in 1889. Today there are over 1000 pieces in the collection, dating from the late 1500s to the present and covering all lacemaking techniques. A particular strength of the collection is its 18th century Flemish bobbin lace.

The Powerhouse is the only Australian museum actively collecting contemporary international lace, and promoting lace as a medium of current artisic expression through its International lace for Fashion Award.

Access: The Lace Study Centre is open each week day from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm and is staffed by enthusiastic volunteers most of whom are Guild members.

Facilities: The Study Centre is equipped with a binocular microscope and magnifying lights for close study of the lace. Many pieces are encased in perspex boxes so that both sides can be examined. Access to the boxed laces (generally the oldest and most interesting) is unsupervised, allowing quiet study for as long as the visitor wishes. The remaining laces are mounted on slide-out shelves for supervised viewing.

The Lace Place is a museum especially built in 1990 to house the Blackburn Collection.

Mrs Margaret Blackburn OAM JP of Perth (1920-1990) was keenly interested in history and lace. She added inherited family pieces to her own collection from Australia and overseas. The Blackburn Collection, offered as a bequest to the Western Australian Museum, was later purchased by the Mouritz family of Hyden. The lace is complemented by antique gowns and wedding dresses from Valerie Mourtiz's Collection. Additions by gift and purchase are frequently made to both collections.

This site gives you access to approximately 1,000 museums Australia wide. For those with time to spare go to "Collections" and type in "lace".

Tasmania's State museum and art gallery established in the 1840s as the museum of the Royal Society of Tasmania. It has some 500,000 items which include Art, Crafts, Decorative Arts, Textiles, Jewellery and Drawing and Prints
e-mail: tmagmail@tmag.tas.gov.au

Narryna is a beautiful Georgian sandstone and brick house. It has an interesting collection of costumes and Accessories from C1820 - C1920. including a fine collection of bobbin, needlerun, crochet and knitted lace, embroideries including wool and metal thread and excellent examples of white work - especially infants and babywear.

There are approximately 5,000 items in the collection which include Costume, Archives, Cultural heritage, Local history and Genealogy. Museum displays change - usually an historic theme. Viewing of the collection (not already on display) by appointment only.

22 Clarence Street, (P.O. Box 82) Port Macquarie, New South Wales 2444
Opening hours: 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. - Sunday 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Phone/Fax: (02) 65831108

There is always a permanent display of lace and lots of period gowns and accessories. By request the Pearl Anderson collection of approximately 200 items of lace.
Contact: Alice Walker

The Museum, an award-winning Glen Murcutt design, is on the Pacific Highway. The lace collection includes torchon, needle, Irish, knotted, filet, tatted, hairpin, Paraguayan sunlace, Bedfordshire bobbin, some always on permanent display.

A good reference library of lace and crochet patterns, and the Angus McNeill photo collection (late 1890's to 1940's) displays splendid examples of how family lace was worn. Wide variety of embroidery, white work and christening robes.

Copyright: Australian Lace Guild 2005