Wooden shield.

Collection type: Object
Description: Wooden shield.
Long description: Wooden shield. The top of the shield is edged with a plaited basketry strip of plant fibre. Beneath this the shield has 'NGAL Y EAM' painted in light green paint. Beneath this is a triangular section painted red with a bird of paradise painted in yellow. Beneath this section is another triangular section painted dark blue with five white 5-pointed stars. Below this is a band of red paint (very faded) and a central boss of basketry. In this section and for the rest of the length of the shield, the background of the shield is unpainted. Written in yellow paint is 'WANTOK PIATIM WANTOK' and in black 'NGANG GORI WAL AMBIL KA ER SENDIL'. There is a carrying strap attached to the shield through two perforations on the lef side of the shield. [MdeA 5/10/2001]
Geographical reference: Papua New Guinea
Oceania > Melanesia > Papua New Guinea; Western Highlands Province Mount Hagen
Person: Field collector Chris Boylan; PRM source Chris Boylan; PRM source Oceanic Arts Australia; PRM source Michael O'Hanlon
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1998
Date collected: 1998
Acquisition information: Purchased: 01/05/2001
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Material Acrylic Paint Synthetic, Material Plant Fibre, Process Carved, Process Painted, Process Basketry
Dimensions: Width 540 mm top, approx, Width 530 mm base, approx, Length: max 1600 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 2001.56.2
Research and responses: Information supplied by Dr O'Hanlon [now in Related Documents File] - 'Both shields [2001.56.1 - 2] purchaed from Oceanic Arts Australia, 64 Elizabeth Street, Paddington, Sydney NSW 2021 in May 2001. ... Second shield. Collected in Mount Hagen, Western Highlands Province, in 1998 by Chris Boylan. It was brought into town by someone who had no information about it; shield is thought to come from Minj area, Western Highlands Province. The top reads 'NGAL YEA', above Papua New Guinea National Flag. The bottom half has 'WANTOK PAITIM WANTOK', literally 'Friend (or brother) fights friend (or brother)', and in smaller script six names: NGANZ BOKI WAL AMBIL KA ER SENDIL. (Information from Chris Boylan (seller). Note: The shield is almost certainly one of the many that were produced from the 1980s either around the Minj or the Kerowil areas of the western Highlands Province. See also M. O'Hanlon 'Modernity and the graphicalization of meaning : New Guinea Highland shield decoration in historical perspective,' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Insititute, 1995. The inscription 'NGAL YEA' at the top is incomplete but 'NGAL YE' means 'Young man' in the mid-Wahgi language. The names on the bottom aren't names but mean literally 'NGAZ' (skin/body), BOKI WAL (wrapping up thing), AMBIL (holding), KA ER SENDIL (will be well). So the meaning is 'body protecting thing so keep it properly', or body protecting thing, hold it carefully.' [MdeA 10/10/2001]
Associated publications: Illustrated in colour and discussed in detail in 'War of Words: Politics, Four-Wheel Drives and Rugby League Inspire the Decoration of New Guinea War Shields', by Michael O'Hanlon, in Oxford Today, Vol. XIV, no. 1 (Michaelmas 2001), p. 51 (copy in RDF). [JC 15/11/2001] Illustrated in colour on the front cover of Materializing the Nation: Commodities, Consumption, and Media in Papua New Guinea, by Robert J. Foster (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002). Caption (on back cover) reads: 'Wooden shield with acrylic paints, ca. 1980s, Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. National flag and Tok Pisin words "wantok paitim wantok" ("brother [or compatriot] fights brother [or compatriot]").' [JC 30 10 2002] This object features in the Museum's audio guide produced during the DCF-funded 'Cutting Edge’ project, 2007-2009. [HH 20/06/2010]

Search terms: Weapon, Insignia, Shield, Flag