The History

Mary Cards Cottage, this heritage listed, historically significant original Australian weatherboard cottage (circa 1903) was once home to the world's most famously successful crochet designer Mary Card.

Mary Card began to crochet seriously at age forty-two after she was forced to give up her chosen profession of teaching due to loss of hearing. She began by repairing heirlooms of Irish crochet stuydying the workmanship and designs gave her the skills to start designing her own pieces.

Her first work became popular in America through the ladies' Home Journal. In 1910 she established a contract with New Idea in Australia where she wrote detailed and concise explanations on her original patterns.

In 1907 Mary Card moved from Burwood to Olinda where she designed her own simple house and named it "Carinya". Other membersof her family moved nearby and Cards Lane remains in Olinda today.

Crocheting was one of Mary Cards many talents. Born in 1861 to David and Harriet Card, she was also a talented writer and wrote short stories for the Australasian. In 1889 she established her own small school called "Astolat" in Hawthorn which she ran with her sisters until 1903.

In 1917 she moved overseas firstly to America and then England. She returned briefly only once before coming home for seven months until her death in 1940.