The gown is made of red velvet fabric with a front panel and sleeves of cream cashmere. The front and sleeves have lace insertions and the gown also features an embroidered floral design at front hem. It has lacing at the back which suggests it may have been also used as a maternity gown.

Date: 1896

Country of origin: England

Credit Line: This gown belonged to Mrs Hugh Foster-Barham, born Margaret Moore Cameron in 1882, known as Mita. Mita married Hugh in 1900. When her daughter Elizabeth was presented at the Royal Court in England in 1896 Mita purportedly wore this gown. The family later settled in Nelson. The gown was donated by Mrs Mary Greenwood, nee Foster-Barham.

A fine cream silk bodice with lace, matched with a fine cream linen skirt with embossed silk spots. The skirt features a ‘frill’ of knife pleats at the hem and is paired with a delicate silk and lace bodice with a narrow black velvet binding on the collar edge. The belt is embroidered in gold thread on black cashmere, and has a gold braid edging and a suspended coin purse. The provenance is unknown but thought to be of Ottoman design. Although there was a revival of interest in goldwork embroidery in England in the late 19^th century, the belt could also have been a souvenir brought back from Turkey, Greece, Albania, North Africa or even Spain.The skirt belonged to Clara Westwood, born in 1873, who married Thomas Austin in 1893, the year women in New Zealand got the vote. Clara was an artist.

Date: Bodice c. 1905, belt mid to late 1800’s, Skirt, 1890-1910.

Credit Line: Skirt was donated by Mary Garner of Nelson.

Two piece tan silk taffeta gown with glazed cotton lining. A maternity dress of good quality. First made as early as 1820 and may have later been altered to suit changing fashions. The bodice has a round neck and shaped sleeves with peaked lapels that run from the shoulder to the waist front. The skirt is bell shaped and has a decorative band and design that sits around skirt hem and sleeve cuffs. The pelerine, originally referred to as a woman’s narrow cape of fabric or fur, looks like it is a part of the dress, matching in fabric, covering the shoulders and coming to a point (or pair of points) at the front centre of the midriff. It has an applied zig zag trim of folded silk.

The gown was donated to Broadgreen House by a descendant of James and Alicia Townsend, and came out to New Zealand on the Canterbury Association Ship, the Cressy in the luggage of Alicia or one of her daughters. The Cressy arrived in Lyttleton on 27 December 1850.

Date: 1820 - 1840

Credit Line: BGT.212. Donor Mrs D. Reeves of Wellington.

A lovely example of a 1930’s evening gown, in vibrant orange red satin. The gown was purchased at Louissons’ Ltd in Trafalgar Street, Nelson in 1937 and worn by Miss Rose Ellis to the Wakefield Ball, celebrating George VI’s coronation.

Date: 1937



Credit Line: BGT.1268 Donated by Rose Ellis of Nelson.

Kimono shaped coat dress is made of black and green silk crepe with seed beads of black, green and clear glass, in daisy like flowers and border patterns. The robe has internal ties, and an outer belt that ties on the side, bringing the lowered waistline in at the back and finishing off the cross-over look of the period. Best worn over a simple shift dress or chemise and pants.

Date: c.1930.



Credit Line: BGT.1692 Donated by the Nelson Operatic Society.

Lace dress, made of rayon in two pieces. Dress has a V neckline with no sleeves, a straight bodice with flounced drapery around the yoke and on the skirt diagonally from the hips to the centre front and back. Bolero style jacket with long sleeves and flounces on the bottom and cuffs. Rayon, called ‘artificial silk’ was invented in the late 1800s. It is made from regenerated cellulose fibre such as rags and wood pulp. Rayon became popular as a fabric in the 1920’s as it was much cheaper to produce than silk.

Date: 1920’s.



Credit Line: Originally belonged to C. M, Colohoun, born 1892, who wore the dress in the 1920’s. Mrs Nan McDowell of Nelson donated the garment to Broadgreen in 2009.

This shimmering silk dress has a deep point to basque front waist, with shirred gathers and folds from waist to shoulder. The skirt falls in soft pleats to the hem. The round neck is trimmed with lace as are the bell shape van-dyked frilled sleeves.

Mary Ann Yeomans, made this beautiful mauve silk dress for her marriage to Edwin Fildes on 26 July 1852 in the parish church at St John in Bedwardine, Worcester, England. Mary Ann’s parents both died when she was young and she went to live with an aunt, where she became an accomplished seamstress.

The wedding gown was passed down to her daughter Fanny, who came to New Zealand with her husband Albert and their three children in November 1913, bringing the gown, and other family textile treasures with them.

Date: 1852

Country of origin: England

Credit Line: BGT.191 Made by Mary Ann Yeomans in 1852. Donated by Mrs Wratt of Wakefield.

This gown is made from very soft cream silk and the lower sleeves and yoke were lined with silk chiffon which has unfortunately disintegrated. The stand collar, V insert and lower sleeves are embroidered net and are thought to be a later addition. The panels from front waist to back waist are triple pleated forming a slight cap sleeve. The skirt drapes softly from a high waistline and the exquisitely hand embroidered panels on the front and around the lower skirt are thought to be a South American technique called Sol or Nanduti lace which is a traditional Paraguayan lace introduced by the Spanish and means ‘spider web’ in Guarani, the indigenous language of Paraguay.

Date: 1910

Credit Line: BGC.213 Due to a lack of provenance it is unclear who wore or who owned the gown, but it was donated by Miss C Hunter of Stoke.

Stunning two piece gown in black silk brocade with floral sprays in cream and light green. Nineteen bones in a shaped bodice with set-in, leg-of-mutton sleeves. Worn by Jessie (Mrs A.W Morris) of Dunedin. She purchased the gown at G.H Lee’s Department Store in Liverpool for a family wedding.

Janet Moodie, known as Jessie, was born on 24th May 1834 in Alloa, Scotland. She married Arthur William Morris on 9th December 1857 in Dunedin. The family lived at Marinoto, a grand home in Maori Hill, Dunedin. They travelled to Liverpool regularly.

Date: c. 1895

Country of Origin: England

Credit line: BGT.232, Donor Mrs Berys Ferguson, maternal grand-daughter of Jessie.

Object details
Men's three piece suit in black wool. Worn in 1894 when William Raymond married Lucy Challies at Waimea West, Nelson. After their honeymoon in Blenheim and Christchurch, the newlyweds returned to Wakefield and settled in a villa south of Wakefield, called Awanui.

Date: 1894

Credit line: Suit, BGT.297; Shirt BGT. 229; Bow Tie from the Nelson Provicnial Museum

The Broadgreen Smock Coat is made of hemp, linen and cotton, with bone buttons. It is elaborately smocked and includes chain, feather and stem stitching.

Traditional Smocks were worn by men in rural areas of England and Wales from the 17th to early 20th centuries. They were a utilitarian men’s garment with a fascinating history and various uses. Its use was not only material and practical, but also a way for men to express who they were, with value, meaning and emotion.

Date: Unknown, possibly mid 1800s.

Credit line: BGT.2245. Smock Coat donated to Broadgreen from the Nelson Musical Theatre in 2021

Officer’s tunic in black wool, c.1896, with military epaulettes, brass buttons and red sash. made by Everett Brothers, Tailors, Nelson, a highly regarded early Nelson company. Owned and worn by Major Robert William Stiles of Nelson. With thanks to Greg Olsen for loan of belt.

Date: c.1896

Credit line: BGT.891. Donor Mrs Lillian Stiles of Nelson.

Child’s matching set in cashmere and silk velvet. Originally mauve, but now faded. Both garments are fully lined. The horizontal bands, cape edges and waistline have a piped trim. The style possibly replicated a mother’s garment as this was very popular during this period.

Date: c. 1870

Credit Line: BGT.574. Donated by Mr A. J Bradley of Nelson.

Boy's three piece suit in white cotton piquet, with black and white cord trim. In the late 19th century in both Britain and New Zealand, the realities of death were a part of family life and even young children took part in the funerals of their relatives and friends. Children would often wear white, with black ribbon or embroidery embellishments.

Date: c. 1880.

Credit line: BGT.71 Donated by Mr and Mrs D. M. Anderson of Tahunanui, Nelson.

White muslin child’s dress, in 1920s style, with wide horizontal pleats and large side loops for a sash.

Date: 1920s

Credit line: BGT.2304

This very fine silk shawl features rose and paisley patterns. The teardrop shaped motif which is a traditional pattern, was originally of Persian origin and called boteh. In the 17^th century weavers in England, France and Holland began to produce cheaper imitations. By the 19^th century weavers in the town of Paisley in Scotland introduced an attachment to their hand looms to enable them to use 5 colours. It wasn’t long before the original Persian motif became known as Paisley.

Date: 1865

Country of origin: Scotland

Credit Line: BGT1790.02, The shawl belonged to Margaret Young who came to New Zealand around 1865 from Scotland. The family settled in the Oamaru area and the shawl was passed down through the family. It was donated by the owner’s granddaughter, Margaret Weldon of Nelson.

Believed to be a wedding quilt, the Cleland Quilt is one of the oldest quilts in New Zealand.
It was made by Mrs Francis Cleland about 1746. She spun the linen and stitched the quilt. It has a white linen background, with applique and pieced construction.

The centre panel is appliqued with hearts, stars and circles, it then expands out with multiple borders. One border, of stylised appliqued flowers (possibly shamrocks) are now brown but are thought to have faded from their original green.

Date: c. 1746

Country of origin: Ireland

Credit Line: BGT.664. Francis Cleland’s family, originally from Scotland, moved to Ireland in 1703-4 and built Stormont Castle in Belfast.

Catherine Walton was born in Worcester in the late 1700s. The sampler which now hangs in the hallway outside the costume room, would have been a way for young Catherine to practice and refine her sewing skills. Catherine married George Yeomans, a cabinetmaker, in Worcester about 1820.

Catherine died of pneumonia after being caught in a snowstorm while she was out driving in a horse and coach, when her daughter Mary Ann was still young.


Date: 1811

Credit line: BG.5CR Donor Ruth Wratt of Wakefield, great grand-daughter of Catherine Walton and grand-daughter of Mary Ann.