| Brief Description |
This first day dress comprises a two-piece burgundy and brown silk damask boned jacket (a) with a lace collar and cuffs and a long train. The separate skirt (b) is made of toning velvet. On the day after her marriage to Philip McRae in 1861, Bertha Scott wore this costume. A first day dress was always coloured, rather than white or cream, and showed that Bertha was now a respectable married woman.
Bertha’s mother accompanied him on many of his voyages and they eventually settled in Port Arthur, Tasmania. After a convict uprising when she protected her household with firearms, she shifted her family to a safer place. The Scott family eventually migrated to Nelson where Bertha subsequently met Philip.
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