Dharug painter and fashion designer, Robyn Caughlan was born c.1950 at Westmead in Western Sydney and after the death of her father Caughlan was raised by a non-Aboriginal foster family in Mudgee. Caughlan left school at the age of 13 and by the time she was 21 was the mother of three small children. Caughlan has always had an interest in fashion design but did not begin working in the fashion industry until her children were grown. Her fashion work has included designs for the Miss World, Miss Universe and Miss Teen Universe pagaents and have graced fashion shows in Europe, the USA and the Middle East. Caughlan staged fashion shows during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and in 2003 she was included in the Mercedes Fashion Week in Sydney. Her Aboriginal Wedding Dress is in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.
Her paintings of synthetic polymer on canvas often depict the natural and spiritual environment of her local area and of her people. Her paintings have been exhibited at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative, Bondi Pavillion, the Australian Museum and Oz artspace.
Caughlan is the granddaughter of Hilda May Lock, a Dharug woman who was a hat maker working in a milliner’s shop in Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner west.
- Writers:
- Allas, Tess
- Date written:
- 2008
- Last updated:
- 2011
