IDNO

P.941.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Pigeon and dog men (Malu), Las.”

Scene showing a group of men crouching on the sand, with their backs to the camera facing two pairs of men a short distance away facing each other with their knees and hands on the sand. They wear calico (wrap-around cloth) and have leaves and feathers stuck into the waist at the back. In the background sitting along a long stretch of tall bamboo fencing are several groups of people looking towards the dancers. [Jude Philp 25/5/1999]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mer; Las Village

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Photographer

Wilkin, Anthony

Collector / Expedition

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

Date

29 July 1898

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon CollectionTorres Strait Island Expedition

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Publication: This image is printed in Reports VI: XXV fig. 3 with the caption: “The Malu Dances: Daumer le and Omai le (p. 309).”.
Haddon and Myers remark on the occasion of this photograph, the performance of Malu-Bomai dances, in their journals (Haddon1898: 194; Myers 1898: 108). This photograph is taken during a cycle, the Daumer le are waiting for the dancing Omai le, before they take over. (Myers 108-9) The Daumer le (pigeon men) and Omai le (dog men) dances were part of the public performances. This is the only part of the ceremony Haddon saw in 1888. [Jude Philp, 2/1998 - 3/2000]

Related images [bold indicates photographs in this sequence]: P.933.ACH1; P.934.ACH1; P.935.ACH1; P.936.ACH1; P.937.ACH1; P.938.ACH1; P.940.ACH1; P.941.ACH1; P.942.ACH1; P.943.ACH1; P.944.ACH1; P.945.ACH1; P.946.ACH1; P.947.ACH1; P.948.ACH1; P.949.ACH1; P.950.ACH1 [Jude Philp, 2/1998 - 3/2000]