The UNSTITCHED panel discussion is presented in partnership with Timeless Textiles Gallery and Hunter Living Histories and in conjunction with the exhibition STITCHED UP at The Lock-Up.

Between 1867 and 1871, one hundred and ninety-three girls aged from two and a half to 18 years attended the Newcastle Industrial School. These girls came from backgrounds of poverty, cruelty and discrimination endemic in immigrant and marginalised communities.

UNSTITICHED will discuss findings unearthed by the research of Jane Ison, Dr David Eastburn and Bernadette Sheahan and give greater depth to this fascinating piece of Newcastle’s history. This discussion will look at the the artistic responses to the lives of its 193 inmates in the exhibition STITCHED UP.

FACILITATOR – DR ANN HARDY

Dr Ann Hardy is Historian, Hunter Living Histories Co-ordinator at the University of Newcastle’s Cultural Collections GLAMx Lab. She has a strong commitment to historical and archival research of the Hunter region, collaborating with communities and cultural groups to develop new knowledge. Her key research areas are Newcastle’s ‘Coal River’, Australian ‘asylums’, health and welfare history, and has an interest in the association between cultural heritage and well-being.

PANELISTS

WILMA SIMMONS

Wilma Simmons is a mixed media and textile artist who lives in Newcastle and is co-curator of STITCHED UP. Simmon’s art is inspired by special people, interesting places, her Asian heritage and multicultural literature.

DR DAVID EASTBURN

Dr David Eastburn has worked closely with rural communities in Australia and Papua New Guinea for almost five decades. His current work involves cooperatively identifying under-recognised local natural, cultural, social and individual human assets and utilising/celebrating them to assist rural communities to realize their capacities for more resilient futures.

JANE ISON

Jane Ison began investigating her family’s ancestry and found that an ancestor, Margaret Poole had been baptised at Christ Church Cathedral and had also attended The Newcastle Industrial School. This chance discovery was the catalyst for Ison’s eight-year investigation into The School which led to a grant from the Royal Australian Historical Society (RAHS) and enabled the creation of a website containing biographies for every Newcastle inmate and details of the records available.

FREE EVENT, bookings required. Click HERE to book your seat.