Objects of Substance – Grammar Bloomers

2006: Michelle Geddes with cycle pants under the Open Netball dress

Whether it was wearing yards of bloomer cotton or figure-hugging lycra, Grammar girls have always relished the challenge of competition and physical activity. The introduction of bloomers enhanced and supported the Girls Grammar teachers’ philosophy of a l iberal, broad-based education from the very beginnings of the School. The object was always to facilitate exercise, sport, and physical pursuits carried out in the most enthusiastic and energetic way possible! But modern Grammar girls must also admire the tenacity of those early athletes for performing with such tenacity in stockings, garters, blouses, ties, and those bloomers!

Ms Pauline Harvey-Short (1971) Manager, School History and Culture

1937 Marjorie Allsop

References

“Athletic bloomers unskirted” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomers downloaded 8.3.22

Harvey-Short, Pauline. To Become Fine Sportswomen: The History of Health, Physical Education and Sport at Brisbane Girls Grammar School 1875 – 2010 . Brisbane, Qld: Brisbane Girls Grammar, 2011. Harvey-Short, P. unpublished thesis Brooches, Blues and Bloomers: Material culture, Sport and Physical Education at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. University of Queensland, May, 2012. [1] Bombay bloomers was the nickname used to describe the army issued khaki shorts created in the 1930s and worn by the British army in tropical areas such as India, Burma, and Malaysia. They were made during WWII in Australia and issued to Australian forces to wear in the heat and as protection from mosquitos carrying malaria. This nickname was frequently used by the seamstresses in the factories who made them. [2] Amelia Bloomer was a 19th century, American women’s rights advocate who promoted less restrictive clothing for women.