Courtesy National Gallery of Australia

Accession Number: 2005.600

Museum: National Gallery of Australia

Date Acquired: 2005

Collector: Ursula McConnel

Date Collected:

Where from: Yarrabah, Cairns

Description: L975 x W340 x D60mm

Jawun Shield 19th – 20th Century
Rainforest Region, Queensland, Australia
Object, Woodwork, natural earth pigments on fig- tree wood

Purchased 2005.

Jawun is the Jirrbal and Girramay language word for bicornual baskets, therefore the design on this shield depicts a traditional basket, and was probably made by a man from the Jirrbal or Girramay people who had been relocated from the Tully/Cardwell region to the Yarrabah Mission near Cairns (Barnard 2013).