Quilt No.749VM - Valda Mentjox
Owner:
Valda Mentjox
Location:
NSW Sydney
Maker
Maker:
Keith Hodder
Made in
AUSTRALIA SA
Patterms
Date:
1941 - 1970
Description:
Rug made from 12 large kangaroo skins. There are 4 'reds' ,one in each corner and the rest are 'greys'. The backing is green felt with the traditional scalloped edge extending beyond the fur. There is also black rat tail braid outlining the actual rug on the backing.
1850 x 1520mm
History:
The kangaroos were shot in the late fifties on 'McCoys Well' station east of the Flinders Ranges where kangaroos were in plague proportions. The rug was made by Keith Hodder in the Adelaide Arcade, Adelaide, for Glad and 'Took' Gardner of Meningie, South Australia. It is now owned by their daughter. It is still used.
Story:
Keith Hodder was a well known Adelaide furrier who, along with many others, closed the business sometime in the seventies.
Related Quilts:
Kangaroo skin cloak of seven gores is made from the skins of seven grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus). The skins vary in size and shape, the inner five are roughly triangular. The cloak is edged with a series of loops, through one of these near the collar is a piece of cloth which appears to have tied the cloak together. The skins are sewn together with two sorts of linen or cotton thread. In a small diamond-shaped gusset at the back of the neck there are some stitches of sinew. The skins are sewn together by means of a small hem which was turned back on to the fur, so stitches went through two layers of skin on each gore. There are some small holes in the skins. The skins are very soft and pliable, and greyish in colour; they vary in size and shape.
Longest part: 800mm
Ref: MA Thesis 1973, S.Meagher 'A Reconstruction of the Traditional Life of the Aborigines of the S.W. of Western Australia.
Wallaby skin rug of small rectangles stitched together with sinew. The back of the rug has been scored in diamond patterns.
The rug consists of 95 fox tails (19 down and 5 across) stitched to fox skins which also form a border. The top section is piped with felt. The backing is wool felt scalloped around the edge.
1580 x 1260mm
Kangaroo skin rug backed on to a brown checked fringed rug.
1931 x 1525mm
Rug made from 54 Platypus skins; 6 rows of 9 rectangular pelts, brown with creamy yellow edges, machined together. The backing is red felt or baize and extends beyond the top with a punched scalloped border. The backing is hand stitched to the top and has a centre motif of a flower outlined in black braid within a large black rectangle.
1890 x 1635mm
Platypus skin rug. Skins are joined in 7 rows with the larger skins on the outside and the smaller ones in the centre. Skins are rich dark brown with yellow/cream sides (the belly fur). The backing is dark brown felt extending beyond the fur and with a stamped scalloped edge.
1720 x 1490mm