Satirical drawing titled 'Winnie! Our War winner'

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Type: Cartoons
Materials: Cardboard, Glass, Ink, Paper, Wood
Collection: Winifred Hilliard collection no. 4
Accession number: 2017.0025.0034

Description

A drawing of a woman in a black dress and hat falling over. There is an inscription 'WINNIE! / Our War Winner' in red and black ink at the top, and the inscription 'J.Rintoull / Maribyrnong 1943.' in black ink in the bottom left corner. The cartoon is framed in a dark brown timber frame with gold painted edging and a black mount.

About the collection

This collection comprises a range of items associated with Winifred Hilliard and the Ernabella Aboriginal community in Central Australia. It includes art and craft items, film equipment, a camera and other items used by Hilliard in her work as an arts advisor with Aboriginal people at Ernabella, as well as her photograph albums, awards and items relating to her involvement in the Presbyterian and later Uniting Church. Collectively, it is representative of Hilliard's adult life, particularly at Ernabella. Winifred Hilliard was a Presbyterian and later Uniting Church deaconess who, from 1954 until her retirement in 1986, worked as arts advisor in the Ernabella art centre. Hilliard and her work with the community contributed to the development of the Aboriginal arts and craft industry in central Australia. Established in 1948, Ernabella Arts is one of the longest continually running Aboriginal art centres in Australia and is noted for the range of items produced there. It was at Ernabella that the first batiks were produced by Aboriginal artists in the early 1970s, with artists from Ernabella teaching the technique to Indigenous artists in other communities. Hilliard was influential in introducing new art forms at Ernabella and it was Hilliard who suggested Ernabella artists try batik. This brought them national and international recognition from the 1970s for several decades. This collection highlights the contribution of Hilliard and the artists in making Ernabella a key organisation in the development of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art industry.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:53:38 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-02-23. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.