Hunter River (near) (not certain), New South Wales, Australia
Accession Date:
1858
Collection Date:
1839 to 1840
Notes:
CLOAK, OR BLANKET MADE OF TWENTY-TWO AND ONE QUARTER RECTANGULAR SKINS OF BRUSH TAIL POSSUM (TRICHOSURUS VULPECULA) AND ONE SKIN OF THE GREAT GREY KANGAROO (MACROPUS CANGURU). SKINS ARE LAID IN FOUR ROWS OF SIX EACH, SEWN ON THE SKIN SIDE, EDGE TO EDGE. THE FUR HAS BEEN LEFT ON ONE SIDE AND THE REVERSE IS COVERED WITH LARGE CONCENTRIC DIAMOND SHAPED DESIGNS, AND SOME STYLIZED HUMAN FIGURES, MADE BY INCISING/SCRAPING A THIN LAYER OF SKIN AWAY. A REFERENCE TO THIS SORT OF CLOAK IS MADE IN THE "NARRATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION,VOL. II, CHAPTER 6, P. 195 [http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/21946698]. ALSO ILLUSTRATED IN THE "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," BY VIOLA & MARGOLIS, S.I. PRESS, 1985, P. 122, AND DISCUSSED ON PP. 121-122, WHERE IT IS IDENTIFIED AS HAVING BEEN COLLECTED BY HORATIO HALE NEAR THE HUNTER RIVER IN NEW SOUTH WALES [although this does not necessarily mean that the cloak was created there, only that it was collected there]. See also in the "Narative of the United States Exploring Expedition, Vol. II, Chapter 8, beginning on p. 245, [http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/21946747] where a trip by Horatio Hale and Alfred Agate to the Hunter River is reported. Exhibited in National Museum of Natural History "Magnificent Voyagers" exhibit, 1985-1986.
From card: "Made of the split open skins with head and extremities cut off, so each in rectangular form, 22 1/4 skins of the brush tailed opossum [sic, should be possum] (trichosurus vulpecula) and one skin on one side which is different and appears to be the great grey kangaroo (macropus canguru) -identifications made by Dr. David Johnson, Div. Of Mammalogy 6/28/62. Skins are laid in 4 rows of six skins each, and sewn on the back, edge to edge with very fine overhand stitch of cotton [sic] cord." Original designation as 'kangaroo' in error. Fur has been left on and the back side of skins are completely covered with large diamond-shaped designs made by scraping up a thin layer of the skin so that it stands up in a little curl. 1958 or 59 Dr. Carl Schuster, Woodstock, Conn. came in to to study this specimen, and apparently had looked into the subject otherwise, He said that this apparently was the only specimen of its kind in the World, the only other being a small fragment in the British Museum [not quite true, but the historic ones are very rare - only a few known to exist]. Refer: J.F. Mulder: 'The Geelong Naturalist', Vol. IV, No. 1, Aug. 1909, Geelong, Victoria, Australia., p.11: 'Others had a sharp projecting tooth; these being handy tools for making carvings on their shields, waddies, boomerangs, also for scratching the inside of their opossum [sic, should be possum] rugs in order to make them soft and pliable. The natives did not appear to have tanned their rugs; at least I have never seen a tanned rug on a native. Those I have seen were all scratched in close diamond-shaped markings.'"
In a 1975 conservation report on the cloak by Cathy Valentour of the Anthropology Conservation Lab, she notes that the skins of the cloak are joined together by what appears to be animal (possibly kangaroo?) sinew in a very regular overhand stitch. She also notes that at some point in the past the cloak was repaired. The tears in the skin were mended by stitching them together with white cotton thread. Overall length of the cloak is 148.5 cm., and the width is 144.5 cm.
Peale catalogue, under # 539 identifies this as ""Worowan" or cloak made of kangaru skins [sic] by the natives of Australia."
This cloak is listed in the Australian Dress Register, under ID # 274: http://www.australiandressregister.org/garment/274/ . It is noted there that cloak was likely created by the Wonnarua, Awabakal, or Worimi people of the Hunter Region. It is also discussed by Fabri Blacklock in "Aboriginal Skin Cloaks" in the Australian Quilt Register: https://web.archive.org/web/20140212072751/http://www.collectionsaustralia.net/nqr/fabri.php.
Carol McGregor, Aboriginal artist from Australia, suspects that the "grey kangaroo" panel may actually be wallaby, based on the size of the panel and the thickness of the fur.
Cloak was on display in National Museum of Natural History exhibit "Magnificent Voyagers: The U.S. Exploring Expedition 1838-1842", November 14, 1985 – November 9, 1986. Cloak was on display in National Museum of Natural History exhibit "Objects of Wonder", January 2020 - July 5, 2020. Exhibit label identifies as: "Possum Cloak, Koori (South East Aboriginal Australians), Australia, pre-1839; possum and kangaroo skins. This is the oldest of only seven historic possum cloaks existing in museums today. While the details of its collection on the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838-1842) are unclear, the cloak was originally described with the term worowan. This suggests it was obtained from Awabakal speakers who inhabit the Hunter River/Lake Macquarie region. More research is needed to determine the cloak's precise origins and cultural affiliations."
