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Mrs Guna Kinne's Latvian national dress. Photo: Dean McNicoll, National Museum of Australia.
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'To part with one's Latvian national dress is similar to putting aside an important banner from the past', noted Mrs Guna Kinne in 1989 when she donated her Latvian national dress assembled over a period of 20 years in Latvia, Germany and Australia to the National Museum of Australia.
Mrs Kinne was one of many Latvians to flee Latvia just before the second Soviet invasion in 1945. An unfinished dress and pattern book were among the few items in her possession when she fled. Her dress tells the story of her flight and determination to continue Latvian culture through war, deprivation and migration.
This story will form part of the National Museum's Australian Journeys gallery, currently in development, and due to open in late 2008.
This presentation was recorded in the Friends Lounge at the National Museum of Australia on 14 May 2008.
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