Case study two - step 8:
Write a statement of significance
This statement of significance encapsulates the object’s values and meaning. Do not just say the object is significant – explain why it is significant and what it means.
Cabbage tree hat example:
This cabbage tree hat is a fine, well-provenanced example of a characteristic item of bush dress in 19th century Australia.
As a group they are significant as the only distinctive item of Australian dress entirely made from Australian materials. The hats have a special place in the developing egalitarian mythology of bush life, described by authors such as Henry Lawson. Writers noted that the wealth and status of wearers could not be determined under their battered and sun-darkened cabbage tree hats. They were worn by convicts, shepherds, squatters, settlers, miners on the goldfields, explorers in the outback and larrikins in the inner city.
This cabbage tree hat and its history helps tease out the relationship between people and the environment in the Illawarra, linking the landscape with the settler’s skills, their exploitation of local materials, and informal ways of supplementing incomes. Cabbage tree hats clearly demonstrate the adaptation of traditional British skills to the raw materials available in the environment, driven by climatic needs. This example is significant for being provenanced to a particular locality, with the capacity to interpret the distinctive history and character of the region.