Entertainment
21 March, 2025
Quilts show war behind lines
AN extraordinarily unique collection currently on display at the Cairns Art Gallery is ‘War Quilts’.
It is an exhibition of stunning and colourful quilts handmade by military men during war times over history, including a couple of Queensland exemplars.
An explosion of colour, intricate patterns and varied materials like felted wools from military uniforms come to life with War Quilts, a collection owned by historian Dr Annette Gero, who has dedicated her life to collecting these unique pieces.
The exhibition at the Cairns Art Gallery, which opened last week, features 28 unique pieces, going back 300 years from the Prussian, Napoleonic, Crimean, World Wars I and II and the Vietnam War and will be on display until June 15.
“Cairns Art Gallery is very fortunate to be able to borrow this collection from Annette Gero, who has been collecting for many years some very rare examples of old quilts made from soldiers’ and sailors’ uniforms who were generally convalescing, and making quilts and embroidering was a form of occupational therapy,” said Cairns Art Gallery senior curator Ingrid Hoffman.
“The oldest quilt goes back to the Napoleonic War and Prussian quilts and so on,” she said.
“These men did this work by recycling old military blankets and their uniforms, so a lot of the bright red woollen fabric is from British uniforms from those past wars when Britain was at the peak of their empire.”
Dr Gero said the exhibition was an opportunity to experience history like never before.
“I’ve been collecting quilts since 1982 and somewhere along the line somebody contacted me about a quilt in Gympie with a double-headed eagle,” she said.
“I learned that many immigrants travelled with their family heirlooms and were forced into the Napoleonic War and other European wars and they were taken prisoners and while they were in prison they’d cut up their uniforms, to have something to do, and they’d make these exquisite quilts.
“This led me to my search of quilts made by military men. Most of these pieces are in the exhibition, we don’t really know why they made these, and the interesting thing is there are fewer than 100 of these quilts in the world and no two patterns are the same.”
Ms Hoffman encouraged people to come to the exhibition to be wowed by the intricacy of the work.
“You don’t need to be an expert to enjoy the intricate workmanship and the fabulous design ideas, which I think are worth coming to see, as well as the vibrancy of these very old quilts that have lasted a couple hundred years,” she said.
