The National Maritime Museum Embroidery hangs in the administration area of the Museum in Sydney. It can be viewed by the public, but prior arrangements need to be made by ringing the Maritime Museum on 9298 3777 before your visit.
This work was proposed by ACT Guild member, Margaret Thompson, in 1987. When Sharon Peoples agreed to design the embroidery, the project went ahead and was approved by the ACT Embroiderers' Guild and the Museum in February 1990.
The work consists of a series of 16 tile images of the people who came to Australia by sea. It depicts the Aboriginal people as being born of the earth and moving about the land. It then moves on to the convicts and first settlers, the post-war immigrants and the boat people. The last two tiles depict the present day faces of Australia.
The tiles were worked on Glenshee linen twill, using Appleton's crewel wool.
Thirty ACT Guild members spent 1,502 hours working on the embroidery.
The ACT Guild donated their stitching of the embroidery while the National Maritime Museum paid all other costs.