In 2013 I was invited to contribute the Women of Fibre story to the first issue of Vintage Made magazine. ‘Vintage’, as we call it, comes from a stable of magazines published here in Australia by Art Wear Publications: Textile, Yarn, Felt, Embellish and Vintage Made. The invitation got me working again on a task that I’d been at on for a long time – getting Mum’s work and my work documented and formally published. I invited Di Howcroft, long time friend and illustrator, to join me and from then till now we’ve contributed four chapters of the story to Vintage.
Family and friends and many of the wider public have enjoyed the work and I’ve had great feedback from many readers. I’ve also had descendants of the wider family contact me after one or other of the stories has helped them follow up some of their own histories.
The Bradshaw women [my mother’s mother’s family of origin] were the first I wrote about in Vintage – I hadn’t yet got to the Miller women from related branches on the family tree. They also play a big part in this story.
It’s time now for this website to finish the Bradshaw/Miller section begun in Issues 1-4 of Vintage Made and to pick up the rest of the Women of Fibre stories as I research and put them together. I’m grateful to Vintage for getting me started – I’ve learned heaps and there’s heaps more to learn.
For those of you who haven’t read the stories I’m including the first three here as published in the magazine: Issue #1 introduced the Women of Fibre story, Issue #2 introduced Ellen Daniel and Aunty Lou, and in Issue #3 we met Joanna Begbie Miller, later Bradshaw. Issue #4 contained some of the Nell and Madge Bradshaw story – this now leads on to the next part of their lives.
Once more the items in blue in the Menu below have been uploaded – the ones in black will be added as they are finished.
More Bradshaw Women
The Miller Women