Miss Ollis Northern Public Opinion Remnant

This remnant square of fabric was part of a fancy dress outfit created by Miss Clare Sophia Ollis in 1900 when she attended a ball held to raise money for the Rectory Fund in Roebourne. Titled "Northern Public Opinion", her gown included a pinafore, made up of panels of fabric onto which a page from the Northern Public Opinion newspaper had been printed. The fabric features articles on romance and opinion pieces that challenge the place of women in society, and one wonders if Miss Ollis was tongue-in-cheek mocking the whole occasion. An accompanying photograph of her standing proud in the dress begs the questions, ‘Who was Miss Ollis, and how did she survive the social claustrophobia of this frontier society?’ Clearly her originality and boldness were not appreciated by the judges of the competition as she only came second.