Photo by Dr Rosita Henry

Accession Number: 1901.09.001

Museum: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Date Acquired: 1901

Collector:

Date Collected: Pre 1900

Where from: North Queensland

Description: L840mm

Curved shield painted on one side. Donated by John Abercrombie/Abercromby who purchased it from Bray’s Curiousity Shop, 12 Pitt St, Sydney.

It was suggested that the narrow hand grip may indicate that it was made by child, however, a traditional design has been applied to the surface associated with an important totem. This would indicate that it was made for a young initiate, and probably a young man from a rainforest group where men were strong, but small in stature, such as the Yidinji people (Barnard 2014).

Contact: Jeremy Coote MA Status (Curator and Joint Head of Collections)

Email: objects.colls@prm.ox.ac.uk