ALTONA Laverton Historical Society will celebrate Australian Heritage Week this weekend by exhibiting more than 100 heritage aprons from a private collection at Altona Homestead.
Devonshire tea will be served in the courtyard during exhibition hours: 11am-4pm. Elaine Mead (pictured) began collecting aprons in the 1970s. The collection spans the Victorian era to the 1950s.
“The 1920s, ’30s and ’40s aprons were usually embroidered and depicted events of the day, such as the coronation of King George VI and Miss Australia, as well as Captain Cook’s cottage and Government House.”
One eye-catching apron features the Union Jack and native waratah, embroidered by a gassed WWI veteran who learned the craft at Heidelberg Rehabilitation Centre.