Item X 10370 Ornament, neck. McArthur River, Gulf, Northern Territory, Australia. 1900

Summary

Necklaces like this one were worn by women in many parts of arid Australia.

Physical Description

A multistrand necklace made of eight lengths of cord coated in resin or a single length folded over and tied at either end. One end has a tie made of human hair string and the other is made of fabric.

Significance

This is a relatively rare example of the incorporation of European fabric into objects made by Aboriginal people collected by Baldwin Spencer. He made a deliberate choice to not collect items he felt reflected the denegration of Aboriginal societies by White society.