Feather headdress from the Austral Islands

At the end of last year, Mark Hall, History Officer at Perth Museum & Art Gallery hosted the Perth leg of the project review for two weeks, with visits from Eve, Chantal and also Christofili Kefalas (Researcher of Maori material and British Museum Future Curators trainee). One of the most exciting discoveries has been the full recognition of the importance of a spectacular head-dress from the Austral Islands in the Perth collection.

Headdress from Tubuai, Austral Islands. The original Perth Museum register records this as ‘Cap worn by Tomatoa, Principle Chief of the Island of Tuhuca in the Australia group of the South Sea Islands’.

This headdress of feathers affixed to a barkcloth structure was given to Perth Museum’s predecessor, The Perth Literary and Antiquarian Society, in 1843. It is shown on display in the Society’s Museum in one of only two photographs we have of the ethnography displays in the gallery in the rotunda.

The headdress can be seen just to the right of the central display of a Tahitian mourner’s costume. It is displayed with a number of hats and headgear.

In the 1930s the Director of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii Te Rangi Hiroa, also known as Peter Henry Buck, advised the then curator at Perth that Tamatoa was the name of a number of chiefs of the same ancestry on Tubuai in the Austral Islands.. The headdress has since then been attributed to Tubuai there does not seem to have been an island named ‘Tuhuca’. The headdress was published in Buck’s Art and Crafts of the Cook Islands (1944). There are two similar examples in the collection at the British Museum.

The headdress has for some time been recorded as being donated by Dr David Ramsay, a man who gave a significant collection of Maori material to the museum along with some outstanding Tahitian artefacts. However, the original register clearly states:
‘Presented by Gen Lindsay, Upper Craigie Perth,
No.1, Cape [later corrected to ‘cap’] wore by Tomatoa Principle Chief of the Island of Tuhuca in the Australia Group of the South Sea Islands’
General Lindsay also donated a ceremonial staff of the Marquesas Islands at this time. A note below this entry states: ‘The above two articles from a Dr L MacLean’
Unfortunately we have not been able to find out any more about either of the men mentioned above but as always would welcome any information from readers.

Close up of the top of the headdress showing the plant fibre bindings which secure the feathers in place. The structure underneath the feathers is made of barkcloth and there is a barkcloth wrapping around the upper knot of the headdress.

– Eve

Flying squid and island encounters in the 1830s

At Perth Museum and Art Gallery there is a journal written by Dr John Lyell, a ship’s surgeon from Newburgh in Fife, in which he documents his journey on board the whaling ship Ranger. He writes over two volumes during the period from 1829-33. In addition to in-depth descriptions of the places, the people and the creatures he encounters, Lyell includes some fine colour illustrations.

Turning the pages of the two volumes, I felt privileged to be able to read the words written by a man almost 200 years ago as he voyaged around the world. I was surprised to read about one of the animals he encountered in the waters around Japan – a flying squid. On 12th 1831, Lyell writes:
“…a shoal of flying squid rose from the sea and crossed our track as the ship passed. Many dashed against the side and were killed, about a dozen alighted on the decks, and a few flew over the ship altogether and escaped into the sea on the opposite side. A flight of these animals presents a very irregular spectacle; as they rise from the sea they eject a shower of ink in the face of their pursuers and in a body proceed to the distance of 30, 40, or 50 yards; on the wing the arms surrounding their mouth are spread out and assume the form of their triangular tail. I am almost certain the tail is anterior in flight but nevertheless their outline thus [line diagram of shape quid makes overhead] is so dissimilar to that of Volant animals in the air that is cannot be viewed for the first or second time without great astonishment. Nor is ones wonder at all diminished if one of these curious beings should happen to fall at his feet while he walks the decks. Had it not been evident to his own senses, he scarcely could have been convinced that an animal so constructed had ought in common with the birds.”

I shared the details with colleagues at the museum over lunch and we speculated whether this creature was really a squid and, if so, whether it still existed. Reading further, I found a coloured illustration of the flying squid and it did indeed look distinctively squid-like.

Flying squid drawn by Dr John Lyell, 1831

A quick look online by Mark Simmons at the museum returned a number of articles about the creature. It was only officially recorded as a species in the 1880s, 50 years after Lyell’s account, and it was only through research in 2011 that scientists were able to show this squid really does propel itself through the air (see K. Muramatsu et al., ‘Oceanic Squid do fly’, Marine Biology May 2013, 160, (5) pp 1171-1175). We wondered then if Lyell’s above description and illustrations provide one of the earliest written English language accounts of this animal?

In his journal, Dr Lyell often writes of difficult and even harrowing encounters on his journey. In a sombre account Dr Lyell writes of meeting a crew on another ship in June 24th 1831 who had recently visited an island near the Solomon archipelago. While there, they had friendly interaction with inhabitants of the island, trading for local produce and allowing many of them on board the ship. However, one day when most of the crew were on shore and a large number of islanders on the ship, two of them seized the captain. A struggle ensued which culminated in two dogs being allowed on deck to attack the islanders, who themselves had not brought on board any weapons. The crew took possession of the ship again without the loss of life. However revenge was instantly sought and the crew chased the islanders back to shore in boats “armed with whale lances and such ghastly weapons”. What happened next is described by Lyell as a “merciless attack” and he describes in detail the horrific actions inflicted on unarmed people. Dr Lyall writes with disgust for several pages, questioning how “Englishmen that pride themselves in philanthropy, and Christians that have been enlightened by the gospel” can act in such a manner. He gives two other accounts of such attacks by British crews, one on Nauru Island and the other at New Zealand. Although his language is steeped in his own prejudices commonly held by Europeans at the time, Dr Lyell’s opinions are clear. He asks not to hear anymore of cruelty by inhabitants in the Pacific Ocean,
“…when their bloodiest deeds are unparalleled by those of a people that boast the blessings of civilized life, and would feel themselves infinitely degraded to be placed on a footing [with such people]”

Dr Lyell’s journals are on permanent display in Perth Museum and Art Gallery next to their Tahitian mourners costume.

– Eve

Gauguin and the Pacific

This week, Pat Allan (World Cultures Curator, Glasgow Museums) and I took some time out from reviewing Pacific collections to meet with Pippa Stephenson who is Curator of European Art at Glasgow Museums. Pippa has been researching some woodcuts in the Glasgow collection by French artist Paul Gauguin which she is interested in displaying one day in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

Pippa and Pat discuss the imagery used by Gauguin in his Tahiti woodcuts

The woodcuts were created by Gauguin in the early 1890s inspired by his time living in Tahiti in 1891-3. He produced them to illustrate his book ‘Noa noa’ which was a document of his time there. ‘Noa noa’ was in fact largely fictionalised and there are multiple articles and publications available which show Gauguin’s exotic island idyll was fabricated by him, an unattainable reality that did not exist. After returning to Paris, Gauguin travelled back to French Polynesia in 1901 to Hiva Oa on the Marquesas Islands. He had by this point become disillusioned with Tahiti and it was on this island that he died in 1903. The artworks reveal this overtly exotic view Gauguin created of French Polynesia.

One of the woodcuts by Gauguin in his Tahiti series

20 metres of Fijian barkcloth

Two weeks spent reviewing the collections in Aberdeen culminated with the unfolding of a 20 metre long piece of Fijian barkcloth, or masi in Fijian. This massive textile, made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree, is one of a number that it was claimed was ‘the worlds largest’ when it was made. The masi was presented to the Governor of Fiji, Sir William Allardyce, at Government house in Suva in 1902 to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII and his new position as Tui biti – the supreme native chief of Fiji. At that time Fiji was a British Crown colony. The masi was laid on the ground and Allardyce with his staff walked in a procession along the length of it as part of the celebration.

Unfolding a large masi like this requires a lot of space and the team in Aberdeen decided the best place would be the Mitchell Hall in Marischal College. It seemed fitting to use Marischal College as a venue for the big reveal as it was Edward VII who opened the building in 1906.

The conservator at University of Aberdeen museums examining the folded 30ft Fijian masi

We quickly realised there was only enough space in the Mitchell Hall to partially unfold the masi in a way that would not damage it.

Partially unfolded masi from Fiji in the Mitchell Hall, University of Aberdeen

This still allowed us to get a good sense of the style and pattern. Interestingly, the style was distinctly Samoan with the large hand painted spots on a red-brown rubbed ground.

Pattern on the 30ft long masi from Fiji

Earlier in the day the team used the hall to unfold some of the smaller pieces of barkcloth from the Aberdeen University collection, two of which you can see below:

Piece of barkcloth collected in 19th century British New Guinea

Late 19th century barkcloth from Fiji featuring rifle motif

– Eve

Meet the Pacific Collections Review project team….

Chantal Knowles
Principal Curator, Oceania, Americas and Africa, National Museums Scotland
Chantal trained in Archaeology and Social Anthropology before undertaking a Masters in Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford. She worked for five years as a research assistant at the Pitt Rivers Museum researching the material culture of the Arawe of West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. In 2001 she joined National Museums Scotland, looking after the collections from Africa, Americas and Oceania, but with a focus on Pacific collections. She is currently Chair of the Museum Ethnographers Group and an associate of the Centre of Pacific Studies at the University of St Andrews.

Neil Curtis
Head of Museums and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Aberdeen
Neil was formerly Senior Curator in the University of Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum, having previously studied Archaeology (Glasgow), Museum Studies (Leicester) and Education (Aberdeen). He is Convenor of University Museums in Scotland, Vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and a member of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel.

Neil Curtis

Mark A Hall
History Officer, Perth Museum & Art Gallery
Mark is chiefly responsible for curating the archaeology collection (notable for its medieval excavation assemblages from Perth). His interest in medieval material culture principally focuses on the cult of saints, gaming and reception studies (especially cinematic portrayals of the medieval past), on which he has published in several journals and books. The other key areas of collections responsibility is the World Cultures collection, though Mark has not yet worked out how he can clone himself to do it justice. It receives many research enquires from around the globe, always a delight to deal with.

Mark Hall

Patricia Allan
Curator of World Cultures, Glasgow Museums
Pat worked on archaeological sites as an ethno-botanist throughout the world for many years, principally on the Southern Coast of Ecuador where she was field director and environmentalist for a multinational, multidisciplinary research project and museum. She continues this work with her close involvement in the museums in Ecuador. She has also trained as a primary school teacher and worked as a microbiologist for Grampian Water Board.

Patricia Allan

Jilly Burns
Head of National and International Partnerships, National Museums Scotland
Jilly is responsible for the development and implementation of National Museums Scotland’s National Programme, which shares skills and collections via partnerships between museums across Scotland. She established NMS Knowledge Exchange Programme, a free advice and collections-based training programme. She is interested in strategies for improving sustainability of sector knowledge and skills. The Partnerships team also support the development of new relationships and projects as part of the museums International Programme. Jilly is currently directing ‘Museums as Agents of Change’, a Project with Museums of Malawi.

Jilly Burns

And me….

Eve Haddow
Assistant Curator – Pacific Collections Review, National Museums Scotland
I am the Assistant Curator working on the Pacific Collections Review. I studied Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh followed by an MA in Art Gallery & Museum Studies at University of Manchester. After completing my studies, I was employed as a Researcher for the Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail and volunteered in several collections roles. Prior to joining National Museums Scotland, I was Curatorial Assistant at National Mining Museum Scotland. I am currently the Events Officer for the Scottish Museums Federation and a member of the Museum Ethnographers Group.

This project is a fantastic opportunity for me to build upon existing curatorial skills while developing subject specific knowledge of Pacific material culture, an area of collections I am passionate about and have wanted to work in for many years.

Eve Haddow

Welcome to our blog

This blog will document the Pacific Collections Review project, an 18 month partnership project supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund which aims to reconnect dispersed Pacific collections held in museums across Scotland. The four core partner museums are National Museums Scotland, Aberdeen University Museums, Glasgow Life, and Perth Museum & Art Gallery. We aim to make the Pacific collections in Scotland more widely available in the UK, the Pacific, and worldwide. We hope to promote dialogue through regular updates from the project team, as well as guest posts. We welcome contribution and discussion.

You can find more details about the project on our website http://www.nms.ac.uk/collections__research/pacific_collections.aspx
The website will be progressively updated with research resources, descriptions of collections and information about different areas in the Pacific.