Photo by Dr Rosita Henry
Accession Number: Oc.1933.0403.6
Museum: British Museum
Date Acquired: 1933
Collector: Derwent Vallance (1875-1960)
Date Collected: c.1903
Where from: Mulgrave
Description: L990 x W285 x D70mm
Painted shield made of wood, with a handle cut from the solid. Donated by collector’s sister, Florence Walker – see the doc 907.
This shield design probably represents ‘Bama’, which is the language word for Aboriginal people from the rainforest region of north Queensland, see contemporary Yidinji shield designs by Napoleon Oui from Cairns and Michael Boiyool Anning (1955-s shield ‘Bama – The people’ 2004.162 held in the Queensland Art Gallery collection (Barnard 2013).
See: ‘Derwent Vallance’ authored by Dr Rosita Henry
http://www.jcucollections.org/?page_id=1108
Contact: Dr Gaye Sculthorpe, Curator of Oceania
British Museum, Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3DG, UK
Phone: +44 20 7323 8035