Summary
This adze is the type used on Cape York to hollow out a log to make the hull for a canoe. On the east coast of the Cape, Aboriginal people made canoes with a single hull to which an outrigger or double outrigger was attached.
Physical Description
A hafted tool made from a segment of shell with a sharpened edge. The haft is made from a single piece of wood bent at the mid-point to form a handle. It is embedded in resin coating the distal end of the shell.
Local Name
Mapalla
Significance
This is a very rare example of a hafted adze or chisel with a shell blade. It was used by Johnny KullaKulla at Port Stewart in late 1929 to fashion a canoe hull from a large log.The anthropologist Donald Thomson took photographs of him doing this and then collected the tool that was most likely made by Johnny KullaKulla.
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
Australian Indigenous - Northern Australia and Queensland and Torres Strait Islands, Donald Thomson
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Acquisition Information
Long-term Loan from University of Melbourne (The), 28 Mar 1973
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Acknowledgement
The Donald Thomson Collection. On loan to Museum Victoria from The University of Melbourne.
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Maker
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Date Produced
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Collector
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Date Collected
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Date Made
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Maker
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Clan/Language Group
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Place Made
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Indigenous Region
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Locality
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Cultural Groups
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Object/Medium
Adze
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Object Measurements
380 mm (Length), 210 mm (Width), 130 mm (Height)
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Keywords