bag
- Museum number
- Oc1908,0620.13
- Description
-
Bag (kalku pilli) - used for fish - made of reed string, human hair. Looped net bag.
- Production date
- 19thC - 20thC (early) (before 1905)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 30.50 centimetres
-
Width: 43 centimetres
-
Depth: 5.80 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Pencilled comment on brown label attached to bag reads 'kalku pilli (reed) bag for fish etc'. According to J.G Reuther's Diyari Dictionary, 'kalku' refers to pared and twisted reeds.
-
Diyari men from central Australia, near Lake Eyre, have traditionally made a great variety of different netbags. They used some to carry personal belongings, such as stones, string and ochre. Some were used to carry food, including fat, meat and fish. Others were worn partly as a decoration and partly as special insignia belonging to a clan group.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2011 26 May-11 Sep, London, BM, G91, Baskets and Belonging: Indigenous Australian Histories
- Acquisition date
- 1908
- Acquisition notes
- This is one of 75 Aboriginal objects from Killapaninna and Hermannsburg in Central Australia which the British Museum bought from Mrs Sarah Hillier in 1908.
The material was acquired by HJ Hillier, Sarah Hillier’s son, who worked as an English and art teacher at two South Lutheran Mission stations in South Australia, firstly at Killalpaninna (1893-1905) and then at Hermannsburg (1906-1910).
The British Museum also purchased collections of similar material from Hillier in 1910 and 1911.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1908,0620.13
