Madras (cloth) handwoven (evidenced by the small flaws in the fabric). Cotton madras is woven from a fragile, short-staple cotton fiber that can't be combed, only carded, resulting in bumps known as slubs which are thick spots in the yarn that give madras its unique texture. The cotton is hand-dyed after being spun into yarn, woven and finished in some 200 small villages in the Madras area. Madras fabric is generally regarded as belonging to the peasant class in its native India. Dutch traders arrived in India in the early 1600s to trade in the local calico cloth, followed by the British.
Willochra Plain Willochra Plain The Willochra Plain is a wide plain situated east of Port Augusta, South Australia. The area falls in view from Mount Brown Lookout and from walking trails in The Dutchmans Stern Conservation Park. The traditional owners of the area are the "Ngadjuri" peoples/ The first European explorer to sight the plain was Thomas Burr in September 1842. Burr was traversing the coastal plain between present Port Augusta and Port Pirie, on the western side of the rugged Southern Flinders Ranges, when he decided to leave the coast to cross eastward over the ranges. From the eastern escarpment he