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Queensland and sport go hand-in-hand, so sportswear seems a natural place to start when thinking about the influence of Art Deco sensibilities on local women’s fashion. Across the Western world, the 1920s saw a boom in women’s sporting participation, linked to their increasing visibility in public life and a newfound sense of independence. Fashion, in general, embodied these new values, observed in the abandonment of corsets, rising hemlines, and simplified designs. Sportswear was no exception. Let’s begin with tennis as a case study, a sport deemed suitable for women’s participation from the late 1800s. To set the scene, this first image of the Queensland Ladies Interstate Tennis Team from 1908 illustrates the kinds of physical restrictions women contended with prior to the arrival of modernity. As a Queensland representative team, it could be assumed these women were among the more serious and adept players of the game, yet their movement would have been severely restricted by their Edwardian ankle-length skirts, narrow waistbands, long-sleeved blouses, ties, and broad-brimmed hats. By the 1920s, things had started to change. This illustration appearing in The Queenslander in 1921 shows the strong influence of modern fashion on what was considered appropriate tennis attire – the dress is slimline and drop-waisted in accordance with the androgynous or ‘beanpole’ style that came to define the decade. Importantly, looser-fitting dresses, slightly higher hemlines sitting above ankle-length, and less cumbersome hats all combined to allow women freer athletic movement. It seems unlikely anyone would have seriously attempted to play the sport in the kind of heeled shoes shown here, but they served as a visual reminder to women to maintain their femininity even in the throes of an exhilarating tennis match. However, this isn’t where things ended for tennis attire in the 1920s. The woman in this next photo from a mixed double match in Brisbane in 1927 sports an even less structured dress with a substantially higher hemline and short sleeves – all changes that brought still greater mobility. Indeed, this is a woman who embodies modern values – she is physical, strong, in-flight and free … not to mention playing alongside a man. Source: queenslanddecoproject.com/2014/10/22/sporting-women-1920s...

There is a book about it in the library: catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000020443 Here are some quotes from the book: "In August, 1842, Mrs. Ellen Byrne was tried at the Commission Court, Dublin, for the murder of her husband, Augustine Byrne, by strangulation, suffocation, or other violence. The prisoner and deceased, who were in a respectable condition of life, were in the habit of drinking to excess." "No motive could be assigned for the murder, nor for her remaining shut up in the same room with her husband, as it was alleged, for four or five days. Under these circumstances, with the admission by some of the scientific witnesses that the protrusion of the eye and tongue might have been caused by putrefaction, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty." Source: www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/charles-meymott-tidy/legal...

Michiel2005 Thank you! They certainly didn't hang about for the arraignment, if Mr Byrne's body was only examined on Saturday 9 July.

Eeew! The details in the ebook are revolting - quite put me off my dinner (lamb chops and veggies).

From the account of the trial in Freeman's August 16th 1842

Her appearance in court produced a great sensation, and the utmost curiosity was evinced to catch a glimpse of her face or person. She was attired in the deepest weeds, made according to the most modern fashion, and wore a double veil of dense crepe, which, even when lifted, fell around her face in such thick drapery as to render her face almost invisible. In her hand she held a rich bouquet, and her demeanour throughout the whole proceedings was characterised by the most unruffled composure, and the utmost self-possession.

The trial certainly excited a great deal of public interest. Freeman's Journal devoted well over a page to coverage of each of the 2 days of the trial. The coverage began with this paragraph (Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, Tuesday, August 16, 1842):

Yesterday being the day fixed for the trial of Ellen Byrne, for the alleged murder of her husband, the utmost excitement was manifested in the public mind throughout every district of the city, and more particularly in the vicinity of Green-street, which, with all the adjoining avenues, comprising the whole line of streets lying in the direction of Capel-street, Great Britain-street, Henry-street, Essex-bridge, &c. &c., was crowded at an early hour of the morning to such an excess as to be rendered almost wholly impassable. Indeed the crowds of the idle and the curious who congregated in this portion of the city were so dense as to be wholly incalculable, and it is not a little surprising that no accident or fatality of any description whatsoever should have occurred amid so vast a multitude, naturally excited by a proceeding of deep popular interest, and who, one and all, evidenced the deepest anxiety as to every circumstance connected with the melancholy and mysterious occurrence which furnished the occasion for yesterday's investigation.

and ended, after what looks like a verbatim account of the cross-examinations with this (Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, Wednesday, August 17, 1842):

The jury retired at twenty minutes to four, and having been absent from court about half an hour, returned with a verdict of NOT GUILTY. The announcement of this finding was received with murmurs in the court-house. Clerk of the Crown. - Discharge the prisoner. The ponderous bolt of the dock was shot back, and the prisoner was free as the freest of the eager spectators who had assembled to witness her trial. The court adjourned till the 26th of October. The crowds which congregated in front of Newgate were enormous, and the most marked dissatisfaction was manifested by the populace at the result of the trial. Mrs. Byrne remained for an hour and a half in the court-house, after the rising of the court, in the hope that the patience of the crowds assembled without would be exhausted at length, and that when they saw that the object of their curiosity did not appear, that they would quietly separate. In this expectation, however, she was mistaken; the mob was not to be baffled, and were it not for a ruse of the police she might have remained in the court-house till midnight. At seven o'clock, however. Mr Inspector Wade ordered a covered car to be drawn up at the entrance to Newgate, and he conducted into the vehicle a female resembling the prisoner in stature, but who was dressed in such deep weeds that her face was rendered wholly invisible. The pseudo Mrs. Byrne entered the car with the inspector, and away rolled the jarvey, escorted by a number of the horse police, amid the hooting and angry exclamations of the infuriate populace. As soon as the car arrived at the corner of Harcourt-street the widow got out and walked quietly about her business. Mr Wade returned to Green-street, which was as desolate as if there had never been 5 people together there since the world began. Another car as then procured. Mrs Byrne, "the true and genuine," drove away in the company of her sons amid the utmost tranquillity.

John Spooner Does it say who the lawyers were? Perchance?

Is that Groucho Marx?!

If only!

Passionate tennis player ready to heat the ball.