Courtesy Queensland Museum

Accession Number: QE263.1

Museum: Queensland Museum

Date Acquired:

Collector: Sergeant D.S. Whelan

Date Collected: c.1900

Where from: North Queensland

Description: L450 x W180 x H50mm

Looped bush string bag. On the East Cape York Peninsula, baskets and bags were often patterned with stripes of varying colours obtained by different dyes extracted from roots, barks and leaves. This figure of 8 looped technique is used to facilitate a generous stretch to carry large load of food or personal items on top of the head. Each are made using two upright sticks with a cross string to begin the framework. A continuous strand of rolled two ply string is looped or knotted and worked in a circuit to form the body of the bag.