IDNO

P.968.ACH1

Description

On Catalogue Card: “Gizu’s [sic Gasu] rain charm. Mer.”

Portrait of a man, dressed in a calico (sarong) standing next to a stone object which is hanging in a basket attached to a pole on which is also handing a roughly plaited mat of coconut leaves. [Jude Philp 8/3/1999]

Portrait of Gasu, a Meriam man, standing beside his doiom (rain charm) ‘Dugena’, suspended from a bamboo pole in front of a plaited mat. Vegetation is in the background. [JD 05/08/2019]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mer

Cultural Affliation

Torres Strait Islander

Named Person

Gasu (Gizu); Dugena

Photographer

Wilkin, Anthony

Collector / Expedition

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

Date

August 1898

Collection Name

Mounted Haddon CollectionTorres Strait Island Expedition

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Quarterplate

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Related Archive: Haddon writes in his journal: “Gasu gave us a demonstration [of rain-making] at the other end of the island with all the accessories. We have taken some photographs of these + I have bought the whole kit. So now that little cult is fully + accurately recorded” (1898: 206).
Dugena and the “shrine” are now part of the UCMAA collection (see above). See also P.968.ACH1; P.969.ACH1; P.970.ACH1; N.22910.ACH2; N.22911.ACH2; N.22912.ACH2; N.22913.ACH2 in this series. [Jude Philp 8/3/1999]

Bibliographical Reference:Haddon writes detailed information about the acquisition of the stone called Dugena, and the occasion of this photograph in Headhunters 1932 (1901): 22-3. [Jude Philp 8/3/1999]

Bibliographical Reference: Haddon refers to the man as Gasu, rather than Gizu. Haddon writes of this rain charm called dugena in the Reports VI: 194-5. [Jude Philp 8/3/1999]

Publication: The image is published in Reports VI, Plate IX, fig. 6. captioned “Gasu and his rain shrine (p. 195)”. The object was bought by Haddon and is in the UCMAA collection Z 9658. See also P.969.ACH1; P.970.ACH1 [Jude Philp 8/3/1999]

Publication: Image published in 'Recording Kastom: Alfred Haddon’s Journals from his Expeditions to the Torres Strait and New Guinea, 1888–89, 1898–99', Edited by Anita Herle and Jude Philp (Sydney University Press), Fig 7.14, and captioned: "Gasu standing beside his doiom (rain charm) ‘Dugena’, suspended from a bamboo pole in front of a plaited mat. Mer, August 1898. MAA N.23227." [JD 13/03/2020]