Summary

This ornament was amongst a collection of 514 'New Guinea curios' from the Fly River region in New Guinea received in 1885 by the National Gallery of Victoria from a larger collection made as part of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia's (RGSA) expedition to New Guinea in 1885. Most of the objects now held by Museums Victoria were collected on the 2nd and 3rd of August that year as part of the second RGSA expedition to the Fly River led Captain H. C. Everill. His strategy after failing to collect much in the region was to leave 'some presents of cloth, tomahawks, tobacco, beads, &c.' and in return he selected 'some articles from their canoes, which were very full of their household goods'. A vibrant trade network existed between the Torres Strait Island and the Fly River region, which could explain the origins of this ornament. Once the expedition returned to Sydney, the Geographical Society of Australasia displayed the collection of 'curios' to 'show the public that the expedition' had 'done really good work'. After the initial exhibition in Sydney, the collection was shared between the various contributing colonies with Baron von Mueller receiving approximately 1,000 botanical specimens and the National Gallery of Victoria receiving their share of the curio collection.

Local Name

Sabagorar

Physical Description

An ornament cut and shaped into a curve from a section of tortoise shell.

Significance

This ornament is recorded in the museum's registers as having been worn by a young woman as part of the formalities associated with confirmation of being promised to her husband. It is made of tortoiseshell and was worn suspended down the back. In Australia, the small, discrete, yet highly significant holdings of Torres Strait Islander nineteenth century cultural objects are found in the collections of the Australian Museum, Queensland Museum and Museum Victoria.

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