The Dempster Quilt

History

Known as the Dempster Quilt, it is one of the highest quality and earliest known quilts in Western Australia and has great significance for its connections to some of the earliest European settlers.

Marked on the reverse “M.E. Marsden from Dear Grandmamma 1857. Worked by herself” it was made for Mary Emily Marsden by her grandmother, a Mrs. Slack, in England. It was common at that time for patchwork quilts to be made as gifts for the ‘glory box’ of special items saved up by girls for when they got married. No doubt each piece of fabric would be familiar to Mary.

The quilt was amongst those precious possessions Mary brought with her when she emigrated to Western Australia. Mary married Andrew Dempster in 1867 and they lived on a property discovered and farmed by Andrew and his brother Charles, which later developed into the settlement of Esperance.

In 1887 Mary became ill and the nearest doctor lived at Northam. She was brought overland to Northam in a dray by her husband and an Aboriginal tracker, the quilt came with her and was doubtless used on the dreadful, painful journey. Mary unfortunately died and Andrew settled in Northam near other members of his family and developed the property Muresk.

Description

A patchwork quilt, made from pieces of cotton print (probably used for dresses and furnishings).

The design is mainly geometric patterns and appliquéd flowers and birds including peacocks. The design is mounted on linen and the quilting is worked in back and running stitches. There is a thin interlining of cotton.
Handwritten in ink on the linen backing is the following: M.E. Marsden from dear grandmamma 1857

A card hand tacked onto the quilt reads: Patchwork quilt made in 1857 by Mrs Stack, England. Grandmother of Mary Emily Marsden who became Mrs Andrew Dempster in 1867 in Esperance.