This sewing machine was manufactured by the first company to introduce machines into the Australian market, Wheeler & Wilson. Based first in New York state and from 1856 in Connecticut, the company was the principal manufacturer of sewing machines in the 1850s and 1860s.
By 1860 they were exporting to the Australian market. In 1860 the Sydney merchant Vennard and Stevens advertised sewing machines for sale and the following year was promoting Wheeler & Wilson's machines in the 'Bathurst Times' as the 'celebrated improved Family Sewing Machines [reduced in price so as to be] within the reach of all classes'. The cost of ten pounds must have made this something of an exaggeration.
However, sewing machines were almost instantly popular and desirable. Women quickly recognised their potential to do away with the drudgery involved in producing their households' clothes and linen. In 1860, Rachel Henning wrote from Bathurst that her sister Amy was 'wild to have one'. The following year, Rachel Suttor wrote from Balmain in Sydney, 'Sewing machines are getting very general, they are a grand invention. I shall never be contented to "stitch, stitch, stitch" again....You certainly ought to get one.'
When this machine was acquired by the Museum it was described as having been displayed at the 1880 Melbourne Centenary Exhibition. By this time, the sewing machine market was highly competitive with companies vying to produce the most lavish displays and demonstrations at agricultural shows and intercolonial and international exhibitions. The United States Consul in Melbourne wrote of the 1880 exhibition that the American sewing machine displays demonstrated the ingenuity and manufacturing genius of his country, 'By means of these labour saving machines ... in the retirement of the domestic circle, the wheels of life run more smoothly and with less friction, in that Kingdom where woman reigns supreme.'
By 1880, Wheeler and Wilson had been replaced as market leader by Singer. The Singer Sewing Machine Company had a network of agents selling their machine and, most importantly, a new method of selling through hire purchase.
This machine was Wheeler & Wilson's most expensive model and intended for the top end of the market. In appearance it provides clear evidence of two major characteristics of the sewing machine market. First, despite the company's repeated claims of 'new and improved models', in fact this machine is almost exactly the same as those produced in the 1860s. Wheeler & Wilson produced the same basic model of domestic sewing machine throughout their entire manufacturing history. Second, as the first major machine to enter the Victorian home, the sewing machine is presented not as a machine but as a piece of furniture. The more expensive the machine, the less it looked like one. Thus this machine, with the mechanism entirely enclosed in a French polished cabinet, would not have looked out of place in the finest drawing room. Since the 1800s was a time when the home was regarded as quite distinct from the world of work - and of machines - this characteristic of the sewing machine was an essential ingredient of its success.
This sewing machine was designed and made by the American company, Wheeler & Wilson. The company was the first to successfully manufacture and market machines to the domestic market. The evidence of Sands' Directories and newspapers also suggests they were the first to enter the Australian market. In 1860, the Sydney merchant, Vennard and Stevens advertised sewing machines for sale and the following year was promoting Wheeler & Wilson's machines in the Bathurst Times as the 'celebrated improved Family Sewing Machines [reduced in price so as to be] within the reach of all classes'. The cost of ten pounds meant this was something of an exaggeration.
In the 1850s and 1860s, Wheeler and Wilson was the largest manufacturer of sewing machines. However, by the time of the 1880 Melbourne Centenary Exhibition, Wheeler & Wilson's market share had decreased sharply. Singer - with a network of agents selling their machines and, most significantly, a new method of paying for them through hire purchase - was outselling all others. This machine was Wheeler & Wilsons most expensive model and intended for the top end of the market.
The accompanying leaflet with its reference to Wheeler & Wilson's prize winning displays at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1878 dates it post 1878.
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