'Carcoar Court House' sampler by Mary Ann Gorringe
Object No. A7504
This sampler is a particularly fine example of samplers worked by young girls to demonstrate their skills in plain and fancy needlework. The maker, Mary Ann Gorringe (b.1839), was born in England and came out to New South Wales as a baby. Her family settled in Carcoar, a town in the Central West of New South Wales, where her father was a blacksmith and carpenter. At the time this sampler was made, gold had just been discovered in the area and Carcoar was destined to become a thriving regional centre. Mary Ann's sampler is unusual in its depiction of a public building, the Carcoar Court House. Built in 1842, this building served as Court of Petty Sessions as well as lock up, meeting hall and place of worship. The Gorringe family were devout Presbyterians and it is likely that they worshipped there on Sundays until their own church was built in 1862. Mary Ann probably copied elements of the sampler from a pattern book since the border, flowers, birds and animals are typical of those found on eighteenth and nineteenth century samplers. An Australian element has been added with the black swan above the Courthouse. Young girls had been producing samplers as evidence of their needlework skills for over 200 years by the time Mary Ann Gorringe worked this one. However the range of stitches and the complexity of the pattern were greatly reduced over time, with cross stitch becoming the typical sampler stitch. Nonetheless, the sampler retained its importance and its production was seen as the ideal occupation for a young girl training to become a good wife and mother. In colonial Australia, sewing and needlework defined the very essence of femininity. Images of domesticity frequently focussed on a woman quietly stitching, an image that brought together and seemingly resolved, the basic dichotomies in women's lives: the woman is at work, yet peaceful; productive yet removed from any suggestion of commerce or industry; a quiet observer of the family yet contributing to it. As Mrs Warren and Mrs Pullan declared in 'Treasures of Needlework' (1855), needlework 'brings daily blessings to every home, unnoticed, perhaps, because of its hourly silent application; for in a household each stitch is one for comfort to some person or other and without its ever watchful care home would be a scene of discomfort indeed.'
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Summary
Object Statement
Textile sampler, 'Carcoar Court House', framed, linen / silk / wood / glass, Mary Ann Gorringe, Carcoar, New South Wales, Australia, 1851
Physical Description
Sampler worked on a tabby weave linen in green, tan and dark brown silk thread. Cross stitch border of stylised green vines. Central bottom image of Carcoar Court House in fawn using straight stitch. Above this stylised trees, birds, including a horned animal and a black swan, with the caption 'Carcoar Court House Year 1851'. Below, the caption 'Mary Ann Gorringe Age 12'. There are approximately fourteen threads to the cm. Each cross stitch is worked across four threads. Sampler is mounted in a heavy timber frame, stained, gold inset, glass front.
DIMENSIONS
Height
535 mm
Width
535 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
It is probable that a traditional sampler pattern book was available for Mary Ann to refer to, as the outer undulating border is very typical of eighteenth and nineteenth century samplers, as are the variety of plants, trees and flowers surrounding the central image of the court house. The inclusion of a number of birds in the design may reflect Mary Ann's country upbringing, or an interest in birds, or even the contents of her pattern book. However the black swan facing the reindeer gives the sampler a strongly original and Australian flavour. Mary Ann Gorringe, the second daughter of John and Martha Gorringe, was born in Brighton, England on 11 February 1839 and came to Australia with her family as a small baby. She had an elder sister called Ester and at least two other sisters, Martha and Elizabeth, along with brothers William and John. In 1851, when Mary Ann was twelve years old, she completed this needlework sampler featuring the Carcoar court house. The making of this finely-worked sampler is indicative of a childhood spent with parents who were concerned for her education, anxious that she learn the needlework skills necessary for her future role as wife and mother. Mary Ann's father John was the first blacksmith in Carcoar and was also a carpenter. It is possible he was involved in the construction of the court house. The family were strong Presbyterians and John is known to have led the choir for the opening of St James church in Carcoar in 1862. Mary Ann Gorringe married twice, first to a Mr Turner and second on 9 February 1880, to a butcher from Blayney, Edward Price. The Prices had two sons, Edward John, who was born in 1880 and Oswald, born in 1884 and who died on 28 May 1888. Date is embroidered on object.
SOURCE
Credit Line
Purchased with the assistance of Family Circle Publications,1981
Acquisition Date
2 February 1981
Copyright for the above image is held by the Powerhouse and may be subject to third-party copyright restrictions. Please submit an Image Licensing Enquiry for information regarding reproduction, copyright and fees. Text is released under Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivative licence.
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