EARLIEST TIWI ARTEFACTS
This page examines the earliest artefacts from the Tiwi Islands - their properties - provenance & purpose. The objective is to refine the Item Description in on-line museum collections - preserve knowledge of the fabrics used and methods of construction and reintroduce forgotten artefacts to the heritage arsenal of the Tiwi Islands.
Whilst noted for their ornate ceremonial spears & beards - the Tiwi Islands signature artefact is the Tutini Pole. Created as grave furniture at the conclusion of the multi-phase Pukumani Ceremony.
Whilst significant institutions, such as the British Museum & Pitt Rivers Museum, hold many Tiwi artefacts within their ethnographic collections yet they have no Tutini Poles - the new Ship Letter service hadn't spotted the Parcel Post market opportunity. |
The Shonky Shako 1824-27
Shoulder Belt Plate
JS Roe 1824
"Tomb of an Australian Native near the Entrance of Intercourse River Port Cockburn October 1824"
"Bare white sand ridge 18 inches in height" - identifies the henge which delineates the sacred area from the profane.
This is the earliest depiction of the grave of an Australian Aboriginal in north Australia and does not differ materially from current practice.
The blades atop the poles are unique - they appear to represent a recurve form of blade and are presumably carved timber. They resemble the Spanish Bolo Sword - perhaps a template for the ubiquitous machete. The area is still a clan burial ground but the Malawu traditional owners have no knowledge of what the blades represent. The presence of the deceased material possessions and votive articles contribute to the depiction of a transient state. The Wet, white ants & bushfires return all to the earth. |
"when Capt King RN entered Apsley Strait in 1818, and was proceeding towards the shore near Luxmore Head in his boat, a number of natives were on the beach, and a female, who entered the water in order to decoy him close to the shore, called out "Vin aca, Vin aca " ['come here' in Portuguese]. This being a Portuguese expression, induces me to believe that vessels from the Portuguese settlement of Dilhi, on the northern side of Timor, might have visited Melville Island for the purpose of seizing the natives, and carrying them away as slaves." George Windsor Earl 1853 - [Portuguese on Timor from 1515]
Roe is an excellent observer and it is likely that the designs on the Tutini Poles are fair representations of the social and cultural identity of the deceased - so may be discoverable. As this is the 200th anniversary, the potential exists for a reconstruction of this important ceremonial work for retention as a museum installation. It would look magnificent rising from the centre of the Pitt Rivers atrium & off-set recent acquisitions of some awful Tiwi tat.
It appears to be the custom of the natives to bury their dead in retired spots near their most frequent camping ground. The burial place is circular, probably ten to twelve feet in diameter. It is surrounded by upright poles, many of which are formed at top like lances or halberds fourteen or fifteen feet high, and between these the spears and waddies (probably of the deceased) are stuck upright in the ground” (J. Campbell 1834 - Geographical Memoir p158)
"I remarked one native burial-place at Port Essington: it was near Native Companion Plain. The grave was very simple, and placed under a widely-spreading tree. The space occupied was six feet long by three wide, over which was formed an open frame-work of twigs, the ends being inserted in the ground on each side. Upon the grave lay a skull, evidently of an Aborigine, with a thigh or arm bone; the scull was coloured red, as if with some dye [red ochre], and the teeth appeared as if they had been burnt." (J. Campbell 1834 - Geographical Memoir p1570).
JS Roe 1818
Three items are sketched on succeeding pages by JS Roe during the 1818 voyage of HMS Mermaid - each has caused some confusion.
The Cycad
The Cycad on page 180 of Roe's notebook for the 1818 voyage of the Mermaid is not attended by any notation. It is a toxic plant with large fruit and fern-like fronds and is to be avoided. The neuro-toxins can only be removed from the nuts by breaking the cell wall and flushing in running water. It is not possible to achieve this entirely which is why it is useful for travelling to ceremony at the end of the Dry because nothing, not even ants, will eat it. It is noted that the same characteristic pertains to trepang which are not eaten by Aboriginal people.
Up until the early 1990s cycad bread was still being made and consumed by adults in East Arnhem Land. Neuro-toxicology research by Miwatj Health established a causal relationship and the practice ceased.
Screw Palm - Cabbage Palm - Pandanus
Pandanus Spiralis - perhaps the most readily recognisable palm on the planet - it signifies the presence of freshwater, the crown can be exposed to reveal a white, cabbage-like substance which may be eaten & the nuts may be roasted and processed for eating. The green fronds are split and stripped to use in weaving and binding. They are extremely tough and spikey - when dead they are hard, painful & intractable.
Pandanus is woven into mats, baskets, dilly bags, open weave bags for soaking cycad nuts and even canoe sails.
The Water Basket
“Basket of St. Asaph’s Bay; for water. Provisions etc, obtained from the natives. Supposed to be made of the sheaths of the foliage or large squamae embracing the stems of the Pandanus or Screw Pine.. a Seaforthia Elegans a sp. of Palm.”
Roe was 21 years old in 1818 so can be forgiven for this error. Obviously it is impossible to make this sort of waterproof basket out of Pandanus fronds. The source is the Hydriastele ramsayi palm (Northern Kentia Palm). 'H. ramsayi is confined to open dryer forest where there is very good drainage, with sandy soils. It can withstand fire.' [Dr John Dowe JCU]
An immature Hydriastele ramsayi palm of 12-15ft height is cut down and the supple sheath (crownshaft) at the base of the frond is soaked and manipulated to form the basket - which is stitched with Banyan twine. The handle is formed from the rigid 'petiole' of the frond. A similar Tiwi basket is made from paperbark. Seaforthia Elegans is native to the mid-east coast [QLD & NSW] where it is known as the Bangalow {water carrier} Palm, being also used for basket making – it is not native to the NT. |
The similarity between the Carpentaria aka Darwin Palm and the Northern Kentia Palm suggests that both would be suitable donors. The ubiquitous 'Carpie' has only achieved such fecundity & notoriety since urban gardens and public spaces became regularly watered.
Historical note: 'Cunningham used the name Seaforthia elegans to informally document any tall pinnate-leaved palms with a crownshaft.' [Dr John Dowe]
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Dr. William Baker of Kew Gardens & Australian Palm expert Dr John Dowe of the Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, Cairns Qld.
Water Baskets
At the start of this project the Palm Leaf water basket was known from the Cobourg Peninsular - Kempthorne Raffles Bay. The Tiwi were generally thought to only use the paperbark variety which has obvious shortcomings. There is a pervasive belief that the Tiwi have been isolated for millennia and have developed an entirely distinct social & cultural identity. The reality is that there are naturally many shared artefacts and features right across the Top End.
Images from NMA video
An Interview with the Natives
The encounter in St Asaph's Bay, near the top end of Aspley Strait in 1818, is recorded by JS Roe and King in considerable detail as it was the occasioned by the theft of the stand for a piece of surveying equipment - a circumferentor - which measures horizontal angles e.g. between two headlands.
The stand had brass fittings and it is assumed that the Tiwi believed it to be gold - ergo of greater value than even a tomahawk. Roe noted the occasion in the Mermaid's log ‘At 1.30 Slack Water. - Hoisted out the 2nd Cutter…. Jolly boat returned, without having succeeded in obtaining the Circumferentor Stand. The Natives refused to give it up unless exchanged for hatchets - at 2.30 the Cutter & Jolly Boat armed, pulled into the S. bight of the Bay to barter tomahawks, tools etc for the Stand. Held a parley in the Boats with 25 natives but without success. Obtained from them a small basket of water and some sour acid fruit, supposed to be that of the sago palm.’ |
"On our return to the beach the natives had again assembled, and shouted loudly as we approached. Besides the whale boat, in which Mr. Bedwell was stationed with an armed party ready to fire if any hostility commenced, we had our jolly-boat, in which I led the way with two men, and carried with me two tomahawks and some chisels. On pulling near the beach the whole party came down and waded into the water towards us; and, in exchange for a few chisels and files, gave us two baskets, one containing fresh water and the other was full of the fruit of the sago-palm, which grows here in great abundance. The basket containing the water was conveyed to us by letting it float on the sea, for their timidity would not let them approach us near enough to place it in our hands; but that containing the fruit, not being buoyant enough to swim, did not permit of this method, so that, after much difficulty, an old man was persuaded to deliver it. This was done in the most cautious manner, and as soon as he was sufficiently near the boat he dropped or rather threw the basket into my hand and immediately retreated to his companions, who applauded his feat by a loud shout of approbation. In exchange for this I offered him a tomahawk, but his fears would not allow him to come near the boat to receive it. Finding nothing could induce the old man to approach us a second time, I threw it towards him, and upon his catching it the whole tribe began to shout and laugh in the most extravagant way." PP King Narrative of a Survey...Vol 1. Ch. 2
It is shallow enough to wade out to where the boat could ride in the channel - however, it is prime crocodile country hence the need to make much noise leaping about in the water. King's drawn a fair representation of the actual event in the actual location - the sandbar will move about but not much else.
The Shield?
Whilst it is been a relatively straightforward to identify the palm frond water basket, the object on the other side of the divided page is untitled. It has been identified as a shield by D. Simpson (The Royal Navy in Indigenous Australia, 1795-1855 p41) - "It is almost certainly the same object said by Roe to have been collected by his fellow master's mate, Frederick Bedwell, at Endeavour River on 5 November 1819." (Ibid p40)
"Mr Bedwell obtained from one of them a curious shield made of a light wood that grows very abundant in the woods - this shield having 2 spear-holes in it shewed that they were sometimes at war. (Roe 1819b)"
"Mr Bedwell obtained from one of them a curious shield made of a light wood that grows very abundant in the woods - this shield having 2 spear-holes in it shewed that they were sometimes at war. (Roe 1819b)"
It is apparent that the artefact is convex not concave, as in the 1807 Lesueur shield. It is also constructed not simply of wood but a frame with mesh created by interlacing vine - as in the fish traps below or a Banyan string mesh as they do not need to be strong nor buoyant. Perhaps a combination so the cherabin cannot get at the bait from underneath.
The spiral lines may represent submerged grass which is the preferred habitat of the target species - Cherabin (Macrobrachium spp). These freshwater crustacea are found up tidal rivers in shallow, sheltered spots where the grass grows in occasional clumps on the mud banks that are exposed at low tide.
The spiral lines may represent submerged grass which is the preferred habitat of the target species - Cherabin (Macrobrachium spp). These freshwater crustacea are found up tidal rivers in shallow, sheltered spots where the grass grows in occasional clumps on the mud banks that are exposed at low tide.
The fish trap shown above is called Mandjabu in West Arnhem - it is made of Milil Vine & manben (wood) for the frame. A robust trap set in a palisade of stakes across a creek or gutter as for barramundi coming off the floodplain at the end of the Wet. It demonstrates the standard vine mesh & binding which is perhaps too coarse for a lightweight cherabin trap.
A Cherabin Trap Option
The base of the trap is a sprung elliptical frame covered by a semi-rigid mesh of laced vine running across the base like a tennis racket. The upper frame has 5 arched spreaders linking a lateral spar that supports the handle. This frame extends either side from the centre of the handle, 2/3 of the distance to the pointed end of the base - leaving the distal 1/3 open with a low oval slot as an entrance. Loose ends of the vine mesh would deter escapees. The upper frame is also covered in the vine mesh or banyan string netting - angled to show the convex form. Small stones are placed in the trap as ballast and bait added to the central area. Cherabin are very tasty so active at night - they are highly sensitive to the presence of meat and will be quite bold even during daylight hours. Their defence is to spring backwards away from predators so ineffectual in this enclosed trap. The oval form of the trap would allow spring tension & a rigid frame - it would also be the right shape for someone sitting in the back of a small canoe. Top tucker & great bait for barramundi.
The Dutch 1705
It has been proposed that the four artefacts [Fig. 7] from the collections of the Netherlands National Museum of World Cultures Foundation at Leiden, were collected during the 1705 Van Delft Expedition as they are evidently of Tiwi design.
To date it has not been possible to establish the provenance of these artefacts which are the subject of on-going research by Flinders University.
Comparison with artefacts held by major institutions suggest that the Leiden items do not materially differ from those collected through the late 19th and first half of the 20th century.
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Opportunity to Acquire
PP. King in the Mermaid & Bathurst made visits to the Tiwi Islands from 1818 to 1822 and resupplied at Kupang - Fort Dundas was established on Melville Island in 1824-29 and also had regular contact with Kupang. There was regular contact with Darwin through buffalo hunting from the late 1890s followed by the Mission and timber cutting activity. The artefacts trade was developed by the missions and a great many Tiwi visited and lived in Darwin - to such an extent that by wartime the Mission was complaining that so many Tiwi working in Darwin that there was nobody to work the fields & gardens.
A British shipwreck survivor at Kupang in 1828 related the experiences of Mr. Bechade, a French merchant who had befriended the castaways:-
"The Chinese, who are chiefly mechanics, work industriously on their arrival; they soon, however, quit their original trade, preferring to wander about the country as chapmen, bartering various articles for honey and bees'-wax. The town [Kupang] is consequently very badly supplied with artificers, so much so, that Mr. Bechade was obliged to send a coffee-mill to Raffles' Bay, to be repaired." [Wilson RN Narrative Voyage Round the World 1828 - pub. 1835]
The Dutch VOC captured Kupang and West Timor in 1651 and thus proximity to Darwin has led to routine contact since the early 19th century through to the WW2 Dutch 18 (NEI) Squadron of B-25 Mitchells at MacDonald strip south of Darwin. One of theirs, N5-140, crashed off the Nightcliff foreshore on 5th April 1943 with the loss of all five crew. Dutch expatriates escaped the Japanese advance via Darwin & at war's end tens of thousands of PoWs were evacuated to Darwin - >100 planes per day - the Dutch Hospital Ship 'Oranje' brought 800 in one voyage.
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Comparable Objects from the British Musuem
Curator's comments
1929 register - information in observations column:
2-13 "Used in a game".
Notes from Ian Coates from the National Museum of Australia Nov 2012: This is one of twelve clubs, Oc1929,0204.2 to 13, sent to the British Museum by Jessie Litchfield in November 1928. She described them as follows:
‘I am sending, under separate cover, several nulla-nullas, called “boomerangs” by the tribes of Melville Island… The nulla-nullas are thrown along the ground, somewhat after the manner of a cricket-ball; and a skilful thrower will make them skip in a wonderful manner. Eight of them form a set; I have sent twelve, one set of pointed ones, and four odd ones. The paint is merely put on for corroboree occasions.’
‘These nulla-nullas seem peculiar to the Melville Island natives; I have never seen mainland … [Aboriginal people] … using them…’
( JS Litchfield to ‘The Curator’, British Museum, 12 November 1928 – letter from the BM Dept. of Africa, Oceania & the Americas Correspondence Archive.
1929 register - information in observations column:
2-13 "Used in a game".
Notes from Ian Coates from the National Museum of Australia Nov 2012: This is one of twelve clubs, Oc1929,0204.2 to 13, sent to the British Museum by Jessie Litchfield in November 1928. She described them as follows:
‘I am sending, under separate cover, several nulla-nullas, called “boomerangs” by the tribes of Melville Island… The nulla-nullas are thrown along the ground, somewhat after the manner of a cricket-ball; and a skilful thrower will make them skip in a wonderful manner. Eight of them form a set; I have sent twelve, one set of pointed ones, and four odd ones. The paint is merely put on for corroboree occasions.’
‘These nulla-nullas seem peculiar to the Melville Island natives; I have never seen mainland … [Aboriginal people] … using them…’
( JS Litchfield to ‘The Curator’, British Museum, 12 November 1928 – letter from the BM Dept. of Africa, Oceania & the Americas Correspondence Archive.
Curator's comments
Register 1957
Oc1957,04.34 & 35: Ceremonial objects made of wood, forked, coloured red and white.
"PORT DARWIN district", N. Territory, Australia.
(Oc1957,04 series): The residue of the collection of Mr E O Armytage, who formerly lived in the house now occupied by the vendor.
Register 1957
Oc1957,04.34 & 35: Ceremonial objects made of wood, forked, coloured red and white.
"PORT DARWIN district", N. Territory, Australia.
(Oc1957,04 series): The residue of the collection of Mr E O Armytage, who formerly lived in the house now occupied by the vendor.
Private Collection
Forked Ceremonial Club
A very early, fine old forked ceremonial club, Tjapara Timirrikamara from the Tiwi Islands Bathurst & Melville Islands Northern Territory. These were used in Pukamani ceremony and in Ritual battle. This type of club is patterned after a weapon in Tiwi mythology. Purukapali & Tjapara fought over the body of Purukapali’s son Djinini. Tjapara threw his forked fighting club which severely wounded his opponent who only had a bulbed kutunga fighting club. Tjapara became the moon and the facial injuries he suffered may still be seen on a clear night. The forked club remains known as Tjapara’s fighting club.
Club displays banded natural pigment decoration extending to the forked tips. Handle shows longitudinal fluting and shell adze marks from manufacture.
Condition: Bears great patina from age and usage. Tips intact. Decorated in traditional designs with red, yellow, white and black natural earth ochre pigments. Club shows age & some cracks. Feels & looks worn and used. Provenance: Pre WW1 field collection. Palmer Family Collection Queensland. Length: 57cm (22.5 inches).
Club displays banded natural pigment decoration extending to the forked tips. Handle shows longitudinal fluting and shell adze marks from manufacture.
Condition: Bears great patina from age and usage. Tips intact. Decorated in traditional designs with red, yellow, white and black natural earth ochre pigments. Club shows age & some cracks. Feels & looks worn and used. Provenance: Pre WW1 field collection. Palmer Family Collection Queensland. Length: 57cm (22.5 inches).