necklace
- Museum number
- Oc1847,0413.1
- Description
-
Necklace of about 49 wallaby teeth, the roots of which are bound with sinew and suspended from a strip of brown skin through pierced holes. The ends of the strip form ties.
- Production date
- 19thc(early) (before 1847)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 7 centimetres
-
Width: 62 centimetres
-
Depth: 3 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
The entry for this collection in the 'Extracts from the British and Medieval Register 1757-1878', p.87, states: '1 - 16. Presented by the Revd Augustus Strong. From Port Philip, New South Wales'. Rather than describing the specific locality from where the objects were acquired, ‘Port Philip [sic]’ is a reference to Port Phillip, the general name which the British settlement in Victoria was known by in the 1840s. Described in the B & M Register as: ‘1. Necklace of kangaroo's teeth.’
This object is likely to have been collected by Strong when he was based at the ‘St Marys’ cattle station on the Hopkins River, near Warrnambool, in the Western District of Victoria, between February 1842 and March 1844. (Elizabeth Willis pers. com.)
-
Elizabeth Willis (pers. com.) suggests that this necklace is possibly unfinished.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1972-1982 23 Jun-28 Feb, London, BM, Museum of Mankind, The Aborigines of Australia
2015 23 Apr-2 Aug, London, BM, G35, Indigenous Australia: enduring civilisation
2015-2016 27 Nov-28 Mar, Canberra, National Museum of Australia, Encounters
- Condition
- Reasonable
- Acquisition date
- 1847
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1847,0413.1
