Australia has a rich and diverse heritage in patchwork quilts. It covers convicts, Governors wives, Gold Rush immigrants, wealthy shop owners, WWI diggers, people who were forced off the land during the Depression, WWII Australian prisoners of war, rabbit trappers, artists wives and finally last, but not least, Mum, who made all her childrens clothes and never threw anything away. This book not only reflects the quilts found in this country but also the social history of countless ordinary people, histories which otherwise would never have been written, reflecting the life in this country over two centuries. The thread that holds this patchwork of Australian history together is that each story told includes the making of a quilt. It draws a womens memories, diaries, their letters to relatives, official records, newspapers and magazine articles reflecting the current domestic influences and, of course, the old magazines which provided the quilt patterns. Stunning photos, many of quilts which have never been seen before, show the rich quality of design and workmanship. There are visually dramatic quilts to rival any found in the world as well as mellow woolen appliqus made from childrens clothes. Others are real rag bag waggas, Hessian bags or patchwork-covered army blankets, but still rich in the memories embedded in their cloth. The breadth and diversity is extraordinary. Now too we have included the patterns of many of these wonderful quilts so you can recreate these glorious quilt treasures from the past. AUTHOR: Dr Annette Gero, one of Australias leading quilt historians, has been documenting and collecting quilts since 1982. She has traveled all over Australia giving lectures, curating exhibitions on the history of quilts and documenting quilts in private homes and public collections. She gained her PhD in 1982. In 1986, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts (London) in recognition of her work on Australian quilt history. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the International Quilt Study Center, Nebraska, USA and an Associate Fellow; Founder and Patron of the Sydney Quilt Study Group; Past President of the Quilt Study Group of Australia; Lecturer, the Australian Academy of Decorative Arts, and her contribution to the history of Australian quilting has been documented in the Archives of the National Library of Australia, Canberra. She has lectured on quilt history in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, France and England. She is perhaps most highly recognized for her own quilt collection which has been regarded as a National Treasure. The collection has been exhibited in over 30 exhibitions in Australia, in art galleries and through The National Trust. Her collection has been exhibited internationally at the Musee des Limpression sur Etoffes, Mulhouse, France; the Musee des Traditions et Arts, Normandy, France; the International Quilt Show in Houston, USA and the European Quilt Symposium, Alsace, France. Her first book Historic Australian Quilts (now out of print) was published by The National Trust. Kim Mclean is an internationally recognized quilt maker, designer and prizewinner. Kim, who has been quilting and teaching for many years, has won Best of Show twice at the Sydney Quilt Show, followed by three prizes at the International Quilt Show in Houston, which included the Founders Award in 2002 with the quilt The Roebuck Quilt Redone, 2nd prize in traditional pieced category in 2003 with the Frederica Josephson Quilt, and the Judges Choice award for Turkish Tiles in 2004. Her quilts have featured on the front cover of Quilters Newsletter Magazine four times. Kim is an inspirational quilt designer and she has cleverly created the 30 patterns and directions for the reproduction of the quilts in this book in a simple and understandable manner. Kims incredible mathematical brain, and her working of the patterns and dimensions of the quilts has been an outstanding achievement. Not many 19th century quilt would have originally been created using a mathematical process, and she has brought our past quilting history into the future. ILLUSTRATIONS Colour throughout