Loading
Applique Quilt
Martha Bergin1843
Museums Victoria
Carlton, Australia
This applique quilt was made by 21-year-old Martha Bergin in Athlone, Ireland, in 1843. Martha's father was a draper, which may explain the rich range of textilesthat have been incorporated in the quilt and its strong base fabric. (The family drapery business continued for about 100 more years after Martha's birth.) The quilt was among the objects Martha and her husband Andrew Tipping took with them when they migrated to Australia in 1851. Other linen, a family Bible and the lace cap Martha wore when she married also survive and remain with the family.
Show lessRead more
Details
- Title: Applique Quilt
- Creator Lifespan: 1822 - 1883
- Creator Gender: Female
- Creator Death Place: Victoria, Australia
- Creator Birth Place: Rathdowney, Queens County, Ireland
- Date Created: 1843
- Physical Dimensions: w2430 mm
- Type: Object
- Rights: Source: Museum Victoria, Photographer: Jennifer McNair / Quilt maker: Martha Bergin, Copyright Museum Victoria / Photographer: Jennifer McNair / Quilt maker: Martha Bergin
- External Link: Museum Victoria Collections
- Medium: Applique on Cotton
- Themes: Handcrafts, quilts, embroidery, needlework, flowers
- Artist biography: Martha Bergin was born in Rathdowney, Queens County (now County Laois), Ireland. Martha appears to have been well-educated, since she wrote letters to her son each week later in life. In May 1846, she married Andrew Tipping. Andrew had been born in 1824 in Castletown, County Westmeath. He was probably involved in land management and farming. Martha and Andrew had a son, after which Martha, her son and her sister travelled to New York in 1848, at the height of the Irish famine. She may have been visiting American relatives; no record has been found of Andrew accompanying her. Martha was described in immigration records as a 'labourer'. Martha returned to Ireland shortly thereafter, and at some stage had another son. Both sons had died before 1851, when she and Andrew set out from Plymouth, England on the Beulah, bound for Australia. Martha and Andrew were assisted migrants, supported by the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission. Most other passengers on the Beulah were young women (170), with just 12 couples including Martha and Andrew as chaperones. Andrew was paid Ł2 as a constable during the voyage. On arrival in Hobart in September 1851 Martha and Andrew were found employment with a Mr Murray, but left Hobart after a short stay and moved to Melbourne. Their third son was baptised in Melbourne in July 1852, and lived to adulthood. By 1855 their fourth son had died in East Melbourne, and the following year they had another son, the first of their children born on the gold fields, at Fiery Creek. He lived for seven years. Two more daughters were born and died on the gold fields. The family moved around the gold fields: Fiery Creek in 1856, Back Creek in 1859, Landsborough in 1862, Dunolly in 1863 and Bealiba in the 1870s. In 1872 Andrew took a freehold crown grant of 19 acres outside Bealiba and for the rest of his life worked the property with his surviving son, James. They worked as local contractors to support the family, including building roads and bridges for the local council. James left home in 1878 at the age of 26, but continued to send money to his parents. Andrew died of liver failure at the age of 58. Martha was a determined woman who, at the considerable age of 59, travelled for two weeks to assist her daughter-in-law during a family illness. She out-lived Andrew by a year, dying from broncho-pneumonia at 61 years of age.
- Artist: Martha Bergin
Additional Items
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
