How Australian wool promotions through the 20th century shaped how consumers see wool

National Library of Australia Fellow Lorinda Cramer spent 12 weeks this year deep diving into the library's collection to find out more about how wool was promoted throughout the 20^th century and is now writing a book based around her findings.

Her project From Shoddy to Superfine: A Material History of Australian Woo saw her focus on language used to encourage buyers to choose wool, homing in on how campaigns run by the Australian Wool Board and the International Wool Secretariat promoted the benefits of wearing wool.

Dr Cramer said during her research she found as synthetic materials emerged into the market, the language used to promote wool shifted.

"The language has remained quite constant, you still see words like soft and strong, warm and sustainable," she said.

"In the second half of the century, synthetic fabrics emerged and the clothes were often really fun, really youth orientated and after a while they started to become cheaper.

"At some point the AWB realised they should take an approach to make wool this prestige fabric, this quality fabric and emphasise all these benefits about how it feels."

Dr Cramer said prior to the 1950s, there was a very diverse array of woollen garments available within Australia, which then decreased as synthetics emerged.

"There were woollen swimsuits and wool wedding dresses," she said.

"Wool was much more prominent and you would see all these lovely descriptions of it as being chiffon-soft, sheer and delicate, cloudlike cloth or velvety or furry, depending on the kind of garment.

"It wasn't just about warmth."

While searching the library's collections, Dr Cramer also discovered a wealth of resources showcasing the nitty gritty of wool production, including an 1870s wage book for camp books for Springfield, a Merino station on the Southern Tablelands of NSW, which included "notes on character" for workers.

"There is so much interesting information, I am thinking of writing a second book using some of those resources," she said.