1903.39.26

Collection type

Object

Description

Plaited cane armlet. [El.B 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 23/11/2005]

Long description

Plaited cane armlet. The cane is brownish orange in colour with remains of dark brown ?earth inside. [MJD 23/06/2010]

Geographical reference

Australia

Oceania > Australia and New Zealand > Australia

Northern Territory Gulf of Carpentaria Mcarthur River Borroloola

Cultural groups

Yanyuwa

Marra

Person

Field collector Francis James Gillen

Field collector Walter Baldwin Spencer

PRM source Walter Baldwin Spencer

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1902

Date collected

1901 - 1902

Acquisition information

Donated: 1903

Materials and processes

Material Cane Plant, Material Earth, Process Plaited, Process Basketry

Dimensions

Diameter: max 75 mm, Width: max 10 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1903.39.26 Other numbers: Spencer number 18

Research and responses

Borroloola is where the Spencer and Gillen expedition was 'marooned' during the 'Wet'. Originally the expedition had planned either to go overland to Queensland or to Darwin but a decision was taken to go to Borroloola but the expected boat to take them to Darwin did not arrive and Spencer and Gillen stayed there for some time before they were 'rescued' by a boat sent at the request of Mrs Spencer. see Mulvaney 'So much that is New' 1985: 212-213. During their stay in Borroloola they carried out some fieldwork (and collecting). See also 'Camp Jottings .. ' by FJ Gillen 1968 South Australian Libraries Board [AP]

This object was seen by Philip Jones from the South Australian Museum during a visit from 3 to 6 May 2011. The following comments were recorded: Some armlets have a white substance on which is probably pipe clay, white gypsum. Further south white is associated with mourning – worn as funerary clothing. The armlets were probably dusted with white whilst being worn. Cane armbands are not used further south. [MJD 16/05/2011]

This object was collected during an expedition of Central Australia led by Walter Baldwin Spencer and Francis Gillen between 1901 and 1902. However, it should be noted that accompanying them was an Aboriginal man called Erlikilyika. He was 'hired' (receiving no monetary payment) to run their campsites, but actually undertook some of the ethnographic work himself. He could speak Arrernte (his native language), Kaytej (another Aboriginal language), and English. In their personal field-diaries, Spencer and Gillen note that they took days off work, leaving Erlikilyika with "entire charge of the ethnological branch", where he spoke with and recorded the complex beliefs and customs of Aboriginal communities that were not his own (the Kaytetye group in particular). Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing if Erlikilyika collected any of these objects himself but we know that he played a vital role in documenting their meaning and significance, and should therefore be credited for his valuable contributions to the expedition. This information was provided by Fionnuala Bradbury, a Master's student in Archaeology at Newcastle University, as part of her thesis entitled "Erlikilyika and Walter Baldwin Spencer: Indigenous Informants, Ethnographic Analogy, and Archaeological Interpretation". There is an abridged version of the thesis in RDF.

Associated publications

S&G 1904: 687 'Amongst the coastal tribes, the Mara and Anula, the arm-bands may be much more decorative. A simple form is made out of a piece of split-cane bound tightly round with fur-string. This is called maningeri by the Mara. A more elaborate and really pretty one is made in the same way, but in addition it is thickly covered with the bright red, yellow and green feathers of the Blue Mountain parakeet, or the pink ones of the galah cockatoo. .... Perhaps, however, the commonest form amongst the coastal tribes is a band which consists of split strips of cane neatly plaited. It is called lilkara and is precisely similar in structure to the neck-band already described.' [AP 13/1/2000]

Search terms: Ornament, Basketry, Arm Ornament