Weekly celebrates 90 years with Gallery exhibition

A new exhibition has opened at the Bendigo Art Gallery in partnership with The Australian Women’s Weekly to celebrate the publication’s ninetieth birthday.

The exhibition showcases six garments worn by Australian women on recent front covers including the likes of Princess Mary, Delta Goodrem and Tina Arena.

The publication’s famous cookbooks are also highlighted, including a display of the enduring Children’s Birthday Cake Book as well as vintage photos and front covers from the magazine’s early years.

Current editor Nicole Byers said the magazine had found a special place in Australian women’s lives.

“It started out of course as a brand for women, about women and that was quite unique at the time,” she said. “The Weekly has endured because it’s remained true to its core.

“It’s telling stories you wouldn’t necessarily read in other papers or wouldn’t find in other forums, so it’s kept relevant for a long time.”

Byers said the idea of an exhibition was borne after looking back at the magazine’s past.

“The 90th-anniversary kind of snuck up on us and we knew it was going to be an exciting year and we got looking into the archives,” she said.

“We were throwing things up on our social platforms and could see how people engaged with them. So, we had the idea that we wanted to do an exhibition.

“We were a bit naive and didn’t realise exhibitions take quite a long time to pull together but we are really excited Bendigo Art Gallery could come on board.”

Exhibition curator Lauren Ellis said she found it challenging to put the show together, and it took a collaboration between Gallery staff and a team from The Women’s Weekly to pull it off.

“By its nature, a magazine is ephemeral and, obviously, Women’s Weekly had lots of incredible memories and stories and fashion magazines history,” she said.

“How to bring that to life in a physical gallery space was a conundrum we had to work through. The Weekly team have been really fantastic with assisting with research.

“Also, their fashion and style director had to contact some of the designers who have lent gowns to recent covers so we could really show the story of how The Weekly represents Australian fashion.”

The Australian Women’s Weekly: 90 Years of an Australian Icon exhibition is on show at the Bendigo Art Gallery until Sunday, 27 August and is free to attend.