Heritage Hands: Living Craft Exhibition
Heritage Hands is a photographic and storytelling exhibition celebrating traditional artisans and endangered craft practices.
Presented at the Thomas Dixon Centre, the exhibition features a series of portraits and stories documenting skilled makers working across trades including whip making, bookbinding, natural dyeing, millinery, antique restoration and more.
Through photography and oral history, Heritage Hands captures the knowledge, processes and cultural histories embedded in hand skills, offering a rare insight into practices that are increasingly at risk of being lost.
The exhibition invites visitors to connect with the people behind these trades and to consider the value of craftsmanship in a contemporary context.
Heritage Hands is both a celebration of making and a call to ensure these skills are recognised, supported and passed on to future generations.
Autumn Craft Market at The Embroiderers' Guild, Queensland
Handcrafted gifts, vintage linens and second hand embroidery supplies
The first Embroiderers’ Guild was formed in the United Kingdom in 1906 by sixteen former students of the Royal School of Needlework. The Guild was formed to build an awareness of stitch and textile art.
The Embroiderers’ Guild in Australia
In Australia, rather than having a single Guild nationwide, each state created its own independent Embroiderers’ Guild.
The first Australian Guild formed in New South Wales in 1957 and was initially formed as a branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild of London but very soon became an independent entity.
The Embroiderers’ Guild, Queensland
In 1964, Queensland members of The Embroiderers’ Guild of New South Wales began to meet monthly at members’ private residences within the Brisbane area. Towards the end of 1967, this group numbered around thirty and enquiries were made to the parent Guild in London regarding the procedures for association.
In May 1968, The Embroiderers’ Guild, Queensland Inc (EGQ) formed with Mabel McAlister OAM elected as EGQ’s first President. By the end of 1968, membership had risen to just under one hundred members.
info@embroiderersguildqld.org.au
Backstage Pass at Queensland State Archives
BRISBANE LIVING HERITAGE and QUEENSLAND STATE ARCHIVES
bring you our first Backstage Pass Event for 2026. Backstage Pass events are designed to offer a unique opportunity to visit behind the scenes of the amazing Queensland State Archives. The tour will include a curated experience of the exhibition, Printed & Bound. You can find more details about the exhibition here:
Printed & Bound: uncover the art of keeping Queensland history
We’re often told to never judge a book by its cover – but this exhibition invites you to do exactly that.
Printed & Bound uncovers the hidden art behind Queensland’s history, revealed through the records books that were created to hold it. From finely crafted registers to enduring ledgers, these archival bindings show remarkable intricacy, ingenuity and mastery.
Queensland State Archives is the state’s public archive, connecting Queenslanders with the histories of their families, local communities and the state by making significant government records available and accessible. Drawn from this collection, Printed & Bound invites visitors to look closely at the structures that bind our written past and discover a hidden art and our state’s richly layered history.
Also some additional info for new customers:
How to get to the Queensland State Archives
Car
Queensland State Archives is located at 435 Compton Road, Runcorn. Free parking is available on site between 9am – 4.30pm Monday to Friday, and every second Saturday of the month.
Train
The nearest train station is Fruitgrove Station, on Beenleigh Road, between Nursery Road and Persse Road, Runcorn. The station car park entry is on the Nectarine Street side, near the junction of Mango and Plum Streets. Please check the train timetables before planning your journey.
Walking directions from Fruitgrove Station
The walk from Fruitgrove Station to the State Archives building takes approximately 45 minutes (3.5 kilometres).
Bus
Brisbane City Council Bus route no. 150 from Queen St Bus Station stops on the corner of Gowan and Compton Roads, approximately 900 metres from QSA.
Brisbane City Council Bus route no. 152 from Garden City stops at Eisenhower Street, directly opposite Queensland State Archives (check TransLink for the current timetable).
Precious Threads 2026 Biennial Exhibition presented by The Embroiderers' Guild, Queensland
An exhibition of all forms of embroidery from over the years
The first Embroiderers’ Guild was formed in the United Kingdom in 1906 by sixteen former students of the Royal School of Needlework. The Guild was formed to build an awareness of stitch and textile art.
The Embroiderers’ Guild in Australia
In Australia, rather than having a single Guild nationwide, each state created its own independent Embroiderers’ Guild.
The first Australian Guild formed in New South Wales in 1957 and was initially formed as a branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild of London but very soon became an independent entity.
The Embroiderers’ Guild, Queensland
In 1964, Queensland members of The Embroiderers’ Guild of New South Wales began to meet monthly at members’ private residences within the Brisbane area. Towards the end of 1967, this group numbered around thirty and enquiries were made to the parent Guild in London regarding the procedures for association.
In May 1968, The Embroiderers’ Guild, Queensland Inc (EGQ) formed with Mabel McAlister OAM elected as EGQ’s first President. By the end of 1968, membership had risen to just under one hundred members.