Item X 27789 Ornament, arm. Gulf, Northern Territory, Australia. 1912

Summary

The interlaced armband is a typical form produced and worn by women in the tropical coastal regions of the Northern Territory in the region extending from the Gulf of Carpentaria northwards and westwards across Arnhem Land. This was collected on the Barclay Expedition which has been variously written about as the Barclay-Macpherson 1911 Expedition, the 1911 Barclay Expedition, the NT Survey & Exploration Party 1911-1912 and the NT Survey Expedition. The personnel on the Central Mount Wedge to Newcastle Waters party was Henry Vere Barclay, Ronald Horace Macpherson (2IC), Gerald Freer Hill (naturalist) and John Joseph Waldron (cadet surveyor). Cameleers and cooks were hired at Oodnadatta and Old Crown Point. Hill either donated or sold this object to the museum. In his paper, 'Ornithological Notes, Barclay Expedition: From Oodnadatta to Borroloola' Hill notes that the journey took them from Oodnadatta to Borroloola via Alice Springs, Newcastle Waters and Anthony's Lagoon between the months of February to September 1911 and then went on to the McArthur River district between September 1911 and April 1912.

Physical Description

An interlaced circular armband made from split lengths of "jungle" vine.