Back in December, with hopes that I’d be visiting the UK and Denmark in March/April this year, I submitted a proposal for a ‘lightning’ (10 minute) presentation at the Making Historical Dress Network workshop on Learning from Making, to be held in Leicester, UK, on March 18th. And I’m over the moon that my proposal was accepted! The full program for the day has just been announced, and it’s an awe-inspiring line-up of speakers. Being a dress historian from the Australian bush is rather isolating, so to be able to spend a full day immersed in presentations and discussions will be a rare event – I just hope I still have enough brain space left to be coherent in the late afternoon, as mine is the last presentation! The title of my presentation is: The Tyranny of Distance: Making and remaking in colonial and contemporary rural Australia.

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks planning for my trip – booking flights and accommodation, making plans, and yes, becoming thoroughly excited. I’ll be away for about 7 weeks all up. As well as the Making Historical Dress workshop, I’ve booked into two workshops at The School of Historical Dress in London. This is realising a long-held dream… back in my late teens, early twenties, when I first fell in love with historical costuming, I bought the first couple of Janet Arnold books, and wished I could go to the UK and study those collections. It wasn’t to be, back then, but The School of Historical Dress holds the Janet Arnold archives and collections, and I’m going there – at last!

Another purpose of my trip relates to my fiction writing, and I’ve arranged two writing retreats with an author friend, one in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, and one in the Isles of Scilly. While in Hebden Bridge I’m planning to go to Halifax, to follow up on my Honours research and re-examine and re-photograph the Samuel Hill sample book of late 18th century wool textiles that I studied for my thesis. My first historical novel, The Clothier’s Daughter, was in part inspired by my Honours research, and I’m planning another novel that includes aspects of cotton manufacturing, so there’s definitely some overlap between my interests!

I’ll also be going to Denmark for 12 days, to visit my beloved niece in Aarhus. She’s shared much of my historic costuming journey in recent years, and there’s a textile museum in her region that I’m sure we’ll be visiting!