Photo by Trish Barnard

Accession Number: E003300

Museum: Australian Museum

Date Acquired: 16/10/1891

Collector:

Date Collected: Pre 1891

Where from: Russell River

Description: L1200mm

Rainforest shield with bullet holes in surface.

Design is the Cassowary foot, an important totem for the Ma:mu people around Russell River and Innisfail (Barnard, 2013).

Non-Indigenous artist Margaret Preston (1875-1963) copied the design from this shield and translated it with gouache on paper and titled it Aboriginal Design – Design from a Pikan Shield c.1927, and that artwork is now held in the Art Gallery of Western Australia collection (Eagle, 2001). Pikan is a language word for shield, and neighbouring rainforest groups in that region of north Queensland also call it Begon, a similar sounding word, depending on which linguist documented it. (Barnard, 2013)

Contact: Rebecca Fisher, Collections Officer, Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney, NSW 2010 AUSTRALIA

Phone: (02) 9320 6089

International: +612 9320 6089

Email: Rebecca.fisher@austmus.gov.au