Fifteen members enjoyed the historically interesting experience of a guided tour of the recent Johnstone Collection exhibition titled, ‘Inspired by Women’. We were bussed to a lovely terrace in East Melbourne and greeted by two tour guides who provided us with refreshments while giving us a potted history of Johnstone after which the collection is named. This exhibition celebrates women’s lives in the 1700’s and1800’s. We had the opportunity to see some lovely pieces from the British and European fine and decorative arts from the Johnstone Collection along with pieces from the historical collection of the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria. In each room we visited, our tour guide related stories of significant women, influential in the Georgian and Regency periods including the Duchess of Portland, society hostess Lady Melbourne (mother of the man our state was named after), Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and Mary Delany. The stories of these women were colourful and entertaining though not always with happy endings, a plight often experienced by women of the times.
