AFTER a year of painstaking work, three Tasmanian Aboriginal elder women yesterday unveiled a series of seven quilts depicting the history of Cape Barren Island. Titled Through Our Eyes, the quilts show scenes from the women's childhood and what life was like on Cape Barren Island in the 1940s and 1950s. Elders chairwoman and quilter Dorothy Murray said the process of quilting was a good way to remember Cape Barren Island in the early days.
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"It was so good to remember ourselves as kids and take us back in time," Ms Murray said.
Ms Murray, Gloria Templar and Nola Hooper worked in collaboration with local quilter and textile artist, Suzanne MacDonald, to create the quilts.
"The quilts tell stories and now they have been recorded for future generations to understand where we came from," Ms Murray said.
The quilts depict scenes of the island music, shell gathering, local food, Christmas time, servicemen, mutton birding and family homes.
The women met weekly to finish the project and hope to add two more quilts to the seven on display.
The quilts will go on display at the Esk Museum along with a DVD on early life on Cape Barren Island.
