Description (CMS Description)
Carved wooden fish-spearhead with painted patterns. Part of the long wooden handle has been cut off. There is a small row of notches along each side near to the point. Along the length of the object, there is a row of small carved holes near each edge. The tip is coloured yellow, and the tang is black. The rest of the body is decorated in two sections separated by bands of yellow, white and red ?ochre. The two sections have some simple cross-hatching in white and yellow on a black background.
Event Date
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
(Bio) (Collector) Fredrick John Afford Bateman was a doctor in Alice Springs periodically between 1955 -1959, where he worked both in the hospital there and as a flying medic.Richard Bateman, the collector’s son, in correspondence with CUMAA adds: ‘It was a practice that all weapons, shields, knives were left outside the ward [at the Alice Spring Hospital] and were often unclaimed after the patients left the hospital.’This object is one of eight fish-spear-heads collected during this period. Two have been retained by CUMAA.
Event Date
Author: maa