To hope is to dream. Of what might or will be. Of the possible and the mere possible - hope against hope. To hope is to strive for the best. To build on glimmers of new beginnings. To hope is to never give up. To remain expectant, against hopes dashed, disappointments, falsities. To hope is to believe there is a way.
Frida Dakiz and her hopes for her fashion business
Frida Dakiz in her boutique, 2006. Photo: Anita Beanie. Courtesy: Rebel Films.
Born 1977
In 2003, Frida won $4000 in a radio competition and used the money to start her own fashion retail business. She opened her first shop in Coburg – Melbourne's Muslim heartland. Her dream was to design and sew fashionable dresses for women that would meet the Muslim dress-code.
Frida says: 'My clothes keep the traditional guidelines – you can't show the figure of your body; you only show your hands, feet and face – but modernise it and use different colours. I don't want to make it easier for someone to wear it. I just want them to look more gorgeous. I want Frida clothes to be so high quality I can sell to the Sheik of Saudi Arabia.'
Not every shopper responded to her vision or vivacity. She experienced low sales and prejudice. Frida recalls: 'I had another lady that walked in the door [of the shop] with her mother and she said, "She's Muslim, are you sure you want to walk in?" I can't live any more normal than I live. I can not be any more Australian than I am. It's just getting harder to live your everyday life. You're in here for a reason, you're in here for the dress, my religion shouldn't be a problem.'
After being in business for six months Frida had to take on a second job just to pay the rent on her shop. She laments: 'It's dead, no one wants to buy anything. Retail sucks. I'm the little Aussie battler with a scarf.'
However, her fortunes improved when she changed to mainstream after-five wear and attended a bridal expo.
The ups and downs of Frida's adventures in the tough world of high-end fashion were the subject of a documentary Veiled Ambition produced by Rebel Films in 2006. A short excerpt from this film is shown in the Eternity Gallery and a study guide is available for teachers and students.
Betty Cuthbert with weights. Courtesy:
Herald and Weekly Times.
Born 1939
All those months and months of training had proved their value in exactly 52 seconds. It was the fastest I'd ever run for the distance and was only a tenth of a second outside Sin Kim Dan's world record. In less than a minute everything I'd planned for, worked for and prayed for HAD come true.
Betty Cuthbert, 1966
Seventeen-year-old sprinter Betty Cuthbert won a remarkable haul of three gold medals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games in the 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4 x 100 metres relay. She was hampered by injury at the 1960 Olympics but, encouraged by her coach June Ferguson, she prepared for the longer 400 metres at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
She built up her stamina on a running machine, then a rarity in Australia. The running machine, on display in Eternity, could be used to train in wet weather; it allowed her coach closer scrutiny of her style, improved her balance and endurance, and replicated the feeling of sheer speed. Her main rivals in the race were Australia's Judy Amoore and Great Britain's Ann Packer.
While visiting Eternity take the opportunity to record your own story of hope.
Mary Hamm hopes for a family
Mary Hamm. Courtesy: Mary Hamm.
Born 1928
Mary was born in country Victoria on 22 July 1928. Her parents suffered during the Great Depression and left her at the age of 3 to be raised by her grandparents. Mary married Charles Hamm during the 1950s and they planned for a family. Perhaps because of her own childhood experiences, she hoped for a large family with many children and was particularly keen to have a daughter. However after giving birth to her son Barry, she was told she could have no other children. Mary and Charles decided to adopt Aboriginal children and Mary began writing letters to the government departments which eventually resulted in the adoption of 3 Aboriginal children.
The Eternity story focuses on Mary's hopes for a family and the hopes for her children who all grew up knowing they were Aboriginal and adopted. The objects are the baby clothes bought by Mary Hamm in preparation for the arrival of her adopted daughter Treahna.
Tommy Tomasi hopes to start a new life in a new country
Born 1926
Italian-born Ferruccio (Tommy) Tomasi came to Australia with high hopes for his future. While he was working in Western Australia, Tommy saw an image of the snow on Mt Kosciuszko which reminded him of his homeland. He set off to Cooma to apply for work on the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The Scheme offered Tommy the chance to fulfil his hopes for the future in a part of Australia that reminded him of home:
I enjoyed this work very much, finding it extremely interesting and really felt that I was contributing to the Snowy Scheme.
A model of the Snowy Mountains Scheme is on display in the Eternity Gallery.
Ben Chifley. Photo: National Library of Australia,
nla.pic-an23302441.
1885-1951
Ben Chifley was elected as Prime Minister of Australia in 1945. He introduced a number of social welfare reforms and instigated much post-war reconstruction. He was crucial in the creation of a national airline (TAA), the Holden car, the Australian National University and the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Chifley was committed to full employment and his visionary immigration policy was the first stage in dismantling the White Australia Policy. Coining the phrase 'the light on the hill', Chifley had great hopes of bringing something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness...
Ben Chifley was rarely without his pipe, which is on display.
Hope of recovering from polio and being known for something other than her disability (1930s-40s)
Patricia Chalcraft
Depression-era fancy dress competition, hoped to win new shoes (1930s)
Peter Wood
Hope of a better world (utopia) (1890s-1960s)
Tan Le
Hope for Australia's future and the hope of new immigrants (contemporary)
Arthur Phillip, 1738-1814
In 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Sydney Cove, Australia to establish a new colony. Some of his initial impressions of the place were:
The climate is a very fine one, and the country will, I make no doubt, when the woods are cleared away, be as healthy as any in the world this country will prove the most valuable acquisition Great Britain ever made.
This harbour is, in extent and security, very superior to any other that I have ever seen.
Phillip had many hopes for the new colony and designed buildings that could be enlarged as the population grew:
Public buildings ... [may] be enlarged ... in the future. The principal streets are placed so as to admit a free circulation of air, and are two hundred feet wide.
He noticed that the local Aboriginal people used clay to decorate their bodies. Phillip collected some of this clay and gave it to botanist Joseph Banks who took it to Josiah Wedgwood in London in 1789. Wedgwood had it fashioned into medallions to commemorate the new colony. The design is highly symbolic and features four figures which represent Hope, Art, Labour and Peace. The 'Botany Bay Medal', as the medallion came to be known, was on display in the Eternity Gallery.
Frida Dakiz transcript of video:
Frida: My name is Frida. In Arabic it means 'sacrifice'. In Latin 'Frida' means 'unique'. This is Sydney Road Koburg, Melbourne's Muslim heartland. Fish and chips, felafels - take your pick. Interviewer: Two years ago Frida won $4000 in a radio competition. The prize money enabled her to open a fashion boutique for Islamic women and pursue her lifelong dream of creating her own empire. Frida: I'm trying to find the thing that's going to make me rich - not so much rich, I would say successful. I want to have a say in the community. And at the end of the day, no matter what religion you are, money talks. Frida to customer: There's your card. Frida: When a Muslim woman goes shopping usually there are things she is looking for and that's mainly to make sure that it's modest - everything is like covering her butt and not like tight around the chest area.
Interviewer: Frida is getting worried. Her shop has now been open for six months and, despite her best intentions, Frida is rapidly sliding into debt. Frida: It's dead at the moment. I don't know, no-one wants to spend any money. It's been really slow for now coming on to three months. Retail sucks. Frida to customers: Do you need a hand with anything? Customer: No, we're right thanks, we're just having a look. Frida: I'm a little Aussie battler with a scarf. Interviewer: Frida has taken on a second job just to pay the rent. Frida: You feel like going out to every single Muslim out there saying 'buy a dress, buy a dress, save me!' I'm going to need something to get me out of what I'm in. Interviewer: Frida has come up with a radical idea to save the shop. She's going mainstream. Frida is now importing an exclusive range of American prom queen dresses. Frida: This transition that I'm making is probably from one extreme to another, from modest clothing to really revealing clothing. Frida to customer: It's really sexy; it's hot. You can take that off. Frida: You're Australian, you're Greek you're Italian, you come into my shop. Don't worry about this. (refers to her head scarf) You're in here for a reason: you're in here for a dress. My religion shouldn't be a problem. I feel proud. I know I've got the best dresses in the strip now, 100 per cent.
