IDNO

P.812.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Interior of Humpy, Mer.”
[N.B. The catalogue card should read “Exterior of humpy” and is the same house as shown in P.811.ACH1 [J. Philp 17/3/99]

The exterior of an old hut or ‘humpy’, which belonged to Kopam and was located at Sobatir, Kop. The hut is constructed of thatch walls set on the ground and supported on a bamboo frame with a central ridge pole. The thatch at the front has disintegrated so that the framework can be seen. At the rear of the house is a bamboo platform with two clam shells upon it. A path and bush-land can be seen in the background. [Jude Philp 17/3/1999, updated JD 23/5/2011]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mer; Kop; Sobatir

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Kopam

Photographer

Wilkin, Anthony

Collector / Expedition

Haddon, Alfred Cort [Cambridge University Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Straits, 1898 - 1899]

Date

1898

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon CollectionTorres Strait Island Expedition

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Publication: The interior of this dwelling [P.811.ACH1] is printed in Reports IV: Plate XX, fig. 4 with the caption: “Interior of old hut, Mer (p.104)”. The house is noted as having belonged to Kopam and located at Sobatir, Kop. Wilkin studied house construction in Torres Strait but died before the Reports were printed, his work was postumously edited by Haddon and appears in Volume IV. [Jude Philp 17/3/1999]