Born in Guildford in 1887, Alice moved to Midland Junction in 1904 where she served an apprenticeship as a dressmaker to Mrs Overton. In 1910 she married WAGR employee Frank Roberts. In 1914, Frank and Alice moved to the Mundaring Station House, where their children Lance, Eva, and Nellie were born.

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Alice was widowed in 1925 and supported her young children by dressmaking; widow’s pensions did not exist in the 1920s. Alice’s dressmaking skills were essential to the economic survival of the family, and she provided an important service to locals who were unable, or unwilling, to sew their own clothes.

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Despite the need to provide for her family, Alice found time to contribute to the Mundaring community. She was a life member of the Country Women’s Association, as well as a founding member of Mundaring’s Methodist Church’s Sunday School. In 1982 Alice was awarded a Red Cross Service Medal in appreciation of her 20 years of service with the Mundaring branch. Her involvement with the Red Cross, however, went back to 1914, when she volunteered with the Red Cross during World War 1.

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In 1979, blindness forced Alice to move from her home in Mundaring to the Braille Nursing Home in Victoria Park. She died in 1990, aged 102 years.

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The Roberts family has donated to the MHHS a number of family photographs as well as items made by Alice. This includes the wedding dress worn by Alice’s youngest daughter, Nellie, in 1941. We are delighted that Alice’s family has entrusted the care of so many family heirlooms to the MHHS.