Australian Dress Register

Isabella Elizabeth Jobling [1821-1883] married Christopher Dawson Fenwick[e] [1815-1895] on 4 August 1846 at St Thomas' Anglican Church, Port Macquarie. The couple moved to Yarrowitch Station near Walcha, NSW where Christopher Fenwick had taken out a land lease of 30,400 acres in 1840. In 1861 the family moved to Europambela Station, also near Walcha.

The couple had 10 children - Margaret b.1848, Annie b. 1850, Isabella b. 1851, Frances b. 1853, Percival b. 1855, Christopher b. 1856, Henry b. 1859, Frederick b. 1860, Evelyne b. 1862, Arthur b. 1864.

The donor Miss Barbara Fenwicke, daughter of Percival Fenwicke was living at Europambela Station when she donated this dress in 1968.

Note: Some family members altered the spelling of their surname to Fenwicke as evidenced by Births, Deaths and Marriage records.

There are no stories about this dress, however Isabella Jobling and her courtship with Christopher Fenwick are mentioned briefly in Annabella Boswell's journal written whilst Annabella was living at Lake Innes, Port Macquarie during the 1840s.

On 27 December 1844 Annabella wrote: "...On Friday the Misses Jobling came to spend a week with us. They are very nice girls, but so very tiny, the tallest scarcely five feet....", and on 29 December 1844, "...but our chapter of accidents was not yet complete, for Mr Fenwick put Gustavus on his horse, which he led, but forgot to take any notice of him, being too much engrossed in paying attention to Miss Jobling. The consequence was that Gustavus fell off and sprained his wrist..."

It appears that Isabella met her husband Christopher Fenwick whilst holidaying at the Lake Innes property of Major Archibald Clunes Innes, near Port Macquarie in 1844. Following her marriage Isabella left the Hastings area to reside with her husband at their properties near Walcha and the Fenwicke family are still living in that area today.

Isabella Jobling was born in Ulgham, Northumberland, England and migrated to Australia with her father George Jobling [1791-1852], mother Margaret and siblings Annie and George Reed in 1839. The family settled at Gooloowa, a property located at the junction of the Hastings and Maria Rivers near Blackman's Point, Port Macquarie. Isabella Jobling was a very small woman judging by the dimensions of this dress and the recollections of Annabella Boswell confirm this.

At the time of Isabella's marriage, Port Macquarie and much of NSW was in an economic depression, Annabella Boswell describes the years 1845-1846 in her journal, "...The country was still in a very depressed state; transportation has practically ceased and, everywhere the want of labour was severely felt...Many people who had once been prosperous had lost all they possessed..."

According to Marion Fletcher in Costume in Australia, the woman of the 1840s presented an air of fragility and her whole appearance was demure. The 1840s was a period of pretty clothes without the flamboyance of the 1830s or the over ornamentation that followed in the 1850s.Organ or cartridge pleating was a feature of the years 1841 to about 1846, piping was used to define all the main constructional seams and sleeves were bias cut.

Archives and collection records of the Port Macquarie Historical Society, Annabella Boswell's journal, Births, Deaths and Marriage records - NSW, Ryerson Index, newspapers including the Sydney Morning Herald.

Annabella of Lake Innes Port Macquarie

Griffin Gwen (Ed) Port Macquarie Historical Society Inc. 2003

Costume in Australia 1788-1901

Fletcher Marion, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1984

Marriage a la Mode

Tobin Shelley, The National Trust, Great Britain, 2003

Hatches Matches and Dispatches

Clark Rowena, National Gallery of Victoria, 1987

The Wedding Dress was last exhibited in "For Better or Worse" - Women and Weddings of the Hastings, a temporary exhibition held at the Port Macquarie Historical Museum from August to December 2005. The exhibition was one of a number of exhibitions developed as part of the 'Her Story' thematic study project in the Port Macquarie Hastings area. Earlier display history of the dress has not been recorded.

A fabric rosette decorates the centre front bodice, with two smaller rosettes decorating the back centre waist. Top stitching on the skirt gathers near waist gives a shirred decorative effect to the skirt.

Self fabric piping on front and back bodice seams

3 tucks on each sleeve at elbow

Cream damask silk has been used for the dress and fabric rosettes. The bodice is lined with a fine cream cotton and the skirt and sleeves are lined with a stiffened or sized linen.

Hand stitched throughout. The bodice seams are straight stitched with over-sewn edges. There are double seams at front waist 'v' to add body to the skirt gathers.

The front bodice and sleeves are cut on the bias. The back bodice and skirt pieces are cut on the straight.

Metal hooks and hand stitched eyelet holes on bodice back with a tape loop at neck and a metal eye at waist.

Stiffened or sized linen has been used to line and stiffen skirt and sleeves. A fine cotton has been used to line the bodice.

There is staining to the skirt in places and some holes in the fabric at both shoulders this may be from hanging at some stage. There are also 4 glue residue marks on the back bodice near neckline in the shape of sticky tape.

Some evidence of insect holes on skirt.