Feature Exhibits

On loan from the National Gallery of Australia, The Rajah Quilt stands as one of Australia’s most remarkable and moving historical textiles. Originally gifted by Les Hollings and the Australian Textiles Fund in 1989, it is now a centrepiece of the Gallery’s textiles collection and a treasured artifact of the nation’s colonial past.

The quilt’s story begins aboard the convict ship Rajah convict ship, which departed Woolwich, England, on 5 April 1841 bound for Hobart Town. During the arduous 105-day voyage, 179 female convicts worked collaboratively to create this extraordinary piece. With only limited resources, they were supplied with needles, thread, and patchwork fabric by the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners, a philanthropic group founded in 1816 by prison reformer Elizabeth Fry.

The Rajah Quilt is the only known surviving convict shipboard quilt, making it a document of rare historical significance. Yet it is far more than a relic. It is a powerful work of art - an object of beauty created under harsh and uncertain conditions. Through careful stitching and shared effort, these women transformed scraps of fabric into a symbol of dignity, resilience, and collective purpose.

Rediscovered in 1987, the quilt has since become central to the study of colonial life and women’s experiences within the convict system. Its stitched border bears a poignant inscription, offering a direct voice from its makers:

“To the ladies of the convict ship committee, this quilt worked by the convicts of the ship Rajah during their voyage to Van Diemen’s Land is presented as a testimony of the gratitude with which they remember their exertions for their welfare while in England and during their passage and also as a proof that they have not neglected the ladies’ kind admonitions of being industrious.”

June 1841

Today, The Rajah Quilt endures as a story of hope and persistence - an enduring reminder that even in the most difficult circumstances, creativity and cooperation can produce something lasting and profound. Don’t miss this extraordinary piece of Australian history on display at our Craft Fair this year.