Grace Sailor, Yorta Yorta weaver, was born in 1939. Sailor began weaving when she met Gunditjmara weaver Connie Hart in 1985 . Hart had only begun weaving two years prior, when she was taking care of her frail mother and suddenly recalled the baskets her mother had made when she was a child. In 1985 Hart was making regular visits from her home in Portland to Hamilton in south-western Victoria to teach basket weaving workshops, bringing with her the reeds that grew around Lake Condah. Sailor was living in Hamilton at the time and attending a workshop. She immediately warmed to the practice, though she initially faced difficulties as a left-hander. Over the following years, her skills and confidence grew, as did her friendship with Hart:

'I had a very special friendship with Connie. She was a 'mother’ I never had and I loved her very much. Connie used to tell us great stories about her life and we had plenty to laugh about. We were always happy.’ (Sailor in Pring 1998, pg 114).

Sailor went on to become caretaker of The Keeping Place, a small museum and Indigenous culture centre in Hamilton which has baskets created by both Hart and Sailor in its collection. Sailor has also made baskets for the Brambuk Aboriginal Cultural Centre, which is near Halls Gap in the Grampians region of Victoria.

In later years Sailor moved across the border to Mount Gambier in South Australia. In 2006 she participated in the 'Our Mob’ exhibition at the Adelaide Festival Centre, and in 2008 exhibited at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre in Mount Gambier when it hosted the 2008 Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival.

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Writers:

Fisher, Laura

Date written:

2011

Last updated:

2011