Item X 87363 bagu | Fire utensil. Herbert River, Rainforest, Queensland, Australia. 1900

Summary

The fire kit comprises an elongated base only, the cylindrical sticks used to make fire being absent. One face of the base would have a series of regular holes used for inserting the drills or short cylindrical sticks. It is anthropomorphic in form and tapers to a point at one end. The geometric design is painted with natural pigments.

These objects are associated with the spirit known as jigubina (historically written as "tikovina"). This fire kit comes from the same place as the one in the museum's collection from John Gaggin, who was based at Ripple Creek cane plantation near Ingham in the late nineteenth century. He described it as a "war charm".

Local Name

bagu

Physical Description

A firestick base made from a single piece of wood painted with natural pigments. It is anthropomorphic in form tapering to a point at one end and decorated with abstract designs.

Significance

This fire kit with its anthromorphic form is unqiue to the rainforest region of north Qeensland. A limited number of examples from the nineteenth century have survived with four in the collections of Museum Victoria.