Item X 10089 Fire utensil. Rainforest, Queensland, Australia. 1900

Summary

The fire kit contains a base into which short drills are twirled to produce small coals from which fire is made. This is a well-used set with holes in the elongated base.

Physical Description

A fire kit comprsing a set of sticks, one flat (base) and two circular.

Significance

This fire kit was collected by Alfred Atkinson, who had a photographic studio in Cairns in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Atkinson was well known for his images of Aboriginal people from the rainforest area of north Queensland, and he most likely collected the fire kit from one of the men he photographed.