Photographed by Queensland Museum. The top clap stick is QE26176 and the bottom is QE26527.

Accession Number: QE26176

Museum: Queensland Museum

Date Acquired: 1989

Collector: Gladys Jean Henry (1921-2010)

Date Collected: 1970s

Where from: Murray Upper

Description: Singing was accompanied by a rhythmic beat created with the gugulu – clap sticks, tapped together, or with a boomerang. This particular contemporary clap stick is decorated with natural pigments. This object was part of Gladys Henry’s (1921-2010) collection.

QM acquired this object by transfer from JCU Collection. Originally donated to JCU by the Australia Council. In 1979 Gladys Henry sold the collection of 588 artefacts to the Aboriginal Arts Board of Australia Council for $5,800 who then deposited the collection with the Material Culture Unit at James Cook University. A decade later in 1989 the Australia Council then gifted the collection to James Cook University. This gesture was celebrated with an official handover on 10 April 1990 attended by dignitaries from both organisations, Gladys Henry and local traditional owner representatives, with performances by Waddama Dancers. The collection is still one of the most important collections to be assembled after Walter Roth travelled through the Cardwell and Tully region in the early 1900s, and contains excellent examples of material culture production that continued well into the 1970s. Some of Henry’s collection is also held at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. Her daughter Valerie Keenan is the Arts Manager at Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre in Cardwell.

See: ‘Gladys Henry’ authored by Trish Barnard

http://www.jcucollections.org/?page_id=797

Contact: Chantal Knowles, Head of Cultures and Histories, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, QLD 4001 AUSTRALIA

Phone: (07) 3842 9038

Email: Chantal.knowles@qm.qld.gov.au