Serial:
Size:
$3,300 (tax inc.)
SOLD
A brief history: Over generations, Tasmanian Aboriginal women have painstakingly collected, treated and threaded tiny shells into long and intricately patterned strands. These necklaces are highly prized, not only because of their beauty and the increasing rarity of the shells that comprise them, but because shell necklaces are the most important part of Tasmanian Aboriginal women’s cultural heritage. The knowledge has been handed down from mothers to daughters – it is our central, moral and ethical right to continue this significant tradition. Since colonisation, shell necklaces had been studied and recorded by several academics. Archaeologist Rhys Jones had reported that a number of pierced shells exposed from a midden dig on the North-West coast of Tasmania over 2500 years old. Although in times past Aboriginal people collected shells for necklaces in the north-west of Tasmania on Robbins Island, and as far south as Recherche Bay in the south-west, it has been the Furneaux Islander Aboriginal women who have continued the tradition and practice of shell necklace making. Each of the contemporary necklace-makers remembers their grandmother or an elderly auntie threading to form shell necklaces. My own story originates from Cape Barren Island. As a young person, I watched my mother Valerie making shell necklaces. She told me she made them to help feel and clothe us kids. When she moved to Launceston in the 60s, she no longer had access to the Furneaux shell beaches. One of my aims was to see my mother make shell necklaces again and we travelled to local beaches to local beaches at each opportunity to collect shells. My mother was afraid of flying so I bought shells back from the Furneaux Island and we worked together making necklaces. We discussed patterns- how the different shells could be used to make specific patterns. I learnt the most important cultural lessons and cleaning methods for the maireener shells. I made my first long shell necklace in 1990 to ensure I carried on my family’s tradition practising the craft – a tradition linking at least six generations to my grandmothers. Making the necklaces: Our ancestors made their necklaces from maireener shells. One very long string was wrapped several times around the neck to create a beautiful body adornment. Colonisation dramatically changed life for our ancestors and the practice has evolved during the past 200 years with the introduction of different tools and sewing needles to use a wider range of shells such as the tiny rice shells as the base pattern.
Cash – locally only – up to $10,000 only. Layby facilities available. Card details can be advised securely using WhatsApp.
© Art Mob Pty Ltd, Aboriginal Fine Art Dealer, all rights reserved.