Fancy dress costume worn by Jessie Clarke at Centenary of Victoria celebrations, oil paint and batik dye on rayon, cotton velveteen, lead glass, paint, glitter, 1934. Photograph by Broothorn Studios, 1935, Jessie Clarke Papers, Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library Victoria.
Thelma Thomas (later Afford) was a costume designer, performer and art teacher, and in the early 1930s she was active in Adelaide’s avant-garde theatre scene. In 1934 she was studying with influential modernist artist George Bell, when she was approached by the International Club of Victoria to design nine costumes for the centenary of Victoria Pageant of Nations. The costumes were to represent each state of Australia, as well as ‘peace’ and ‘prosperity’. Thomas' costume for the state of Victoria comprised two petticoats, a skirt, cloak and headdress, and each part represented an aspect of Victoria, including the State's irrigation scheme (cloak) and Yallourn power station (headdress). The costume was worn by Jessie Brookes (later Clarke) in 1934 and 1935.