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, and the reverse face has remnants of abstract and geometric designs painted with natural pigments.

Physical Description

A fire kit comprising three sticks, one flat (base) with designs and two circular sticks. The base has holes in the upper side and it is painted on the reverse with natural pigments of black and red.

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.

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