Summary

This spearthrower has a very distinctive fringe or tassel of human hair string attached at one end. "Nuliga" is recorded as the Aboriginal word.

Physical Description

A wooden cylindrical spearthrower with the remnant string used to tie a tassel of human hair string to the proximal end. A wooden hook or peg is fixed with resin at the distal end.

Significance

This example was amongst a large collection made during the 1901-2 expedition led by Walter Baldwin Spencer with Frank Gillen, who arrived in central Australia in 1875. Spencer recorded that this type of spearthrower was made by Wambaya and Gudangi people, whose country lies east of Elliot in the Northern Territory. They were traded to the south and eastwards to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

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