IDNO

P.804.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Round house, group of 3, front view, Mer.”

Gadodo, Akaizi (wife of Mabo), and Pasi, two Meriam men and a woman, standing beside a round thatched ‘beehive’ house, with a fence and sea in the background. From left to right is Gadodo wearing a calico (sarong) and groin-shell of cone shell and holds a wooden club over his shoulder. Akaizi is dressed in layers of grass skirts and wears a dibi-dibi (shell ornament) and dogs tooth necklace. Pasi wears a calico and a groin-shell of cone shell. He is holding a bow in his right hand and a crocodile arrow in his left. Both Gadodo and Pasi wear pearl-shell ornaments around their necks. Beside the doorway of the house are two large baskets, and on the top of the thatch roof is a conch? shell finial. [Jude Philp 16/2/2000, updated JD 23/5/2011]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mer; Las

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Pasi; Akaizi; Gododo

Photographer

Haddon, Alfred Cort

Collector / Expedition

Haddon, Alfred Cort [Torres Strait, 1888 - 1889]

Date

November 1888 - 5 April 1889

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon CollectionTorres Strait Island Expedition

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Related Archive: Referenced in notebook titled ‘List of Torres-Straits Photographs. 1888 - 1889. A.C. Haddon’, “2B. Beehive hut - girl and 2 men, front. Mer” [JD 20/4/2011]

Named Person: Identification from reverse of P.23364.ACH2 “Beehive hut at Las - Mer. Biged = [married to] BARNEY”.
Identification from reverse of P.23363.ACH2 “15. Beehive hut at Las - Mer - Akaizi (wife of Mabo) [above and below this is written] Gadodo. Pasi” [Jude Philp 25/2/1999]

Named Person: Pasi was one of Haddon’s closest friends and informants at Mer. He was a member of the police in 1888 but became mamoose of Dauar by the time of Haddon’s second voyage.

Context: Haddon probably staged this photograph in order to illustrate the pre-colonial style of house and dress. By 1888 most Islanders lived in South-sea Islander style square woven houses and dressed in European clothing. The crocodile arrow is so-called because of the design at the arrow head. Haddon wrote extensively on variations in their design (Haddon 1895). [Jude Philp 25/2/1999]

Date: Haddon arrived at Mer in late November 1888, and departed 5 April 1889. While at Mer the services of the indigenous police force were placed at his disposal by the Acting Government Resident, Hugh Milman (1888: 3) subsequently reinforced by the Government Resident, John Douglas, when he visited Mer (1888: 85). [Jude Philp 25/2/1999]

Format: A characteristic feature of Haddon’s 1888 - 1889 Expedition glass plate negatives is uneven emulsion or development at the corners, often with a thumbprint visible. Haddon appears to have used only a half-plate camera during his 1888 Expedition. [JD 7/10/2010]