IDNO

P.85614.ACH2

Description

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.287.ACH1: “A man smoked to a mummy. Corrong natives.”

The smoking of a deceased man to a mummy by Coorong area (Corrong) Aboriginals. The same method is applied in the Encounter Bay area. The dead warrior is positioned on a raised platform over a fire and covered with large circular basketry shields and rubbed with ochre and grease. The body is thus smoked to become a mummy. Two women?, one on each side of the platform, hold upright poles topped with plumes?. The platform and women are surrounded by a semicircle shelter of vegetation. In the foreground on the left is a woman? squatting on a circular mat, possibly in mourning?. On the right is three men approaching the fire with the first man carrying vegetation and the second and third man carrying firewood. In the background are several individuals and vegetation shelters. [JD 23/8/2007] [WV 7/4/2009]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; South Australia; Encounter Bay; Coorong area

Cultural Affliation

Kurung [historically Coorong; Corrong]

Named Person

Photographer

von Blandowski, Wilhelm [Artist]

Collector / Expedition

von Blandowski, William [Blandowski Expedition to the Lower Murray River, 1857]

Date

1860; 1862

Collection Name

Haddon Collection

Source

?Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.84200. to P.84255. and P.85603. to P.85634. were tied together in a bundle.

Bibliographical Reference: Blandowski, William von, 1862. Australien in 142 Photographischen (Unpublished), with the caption “Aborigines of Australia, Plate 167. William v. Blandowski, Australia. A man smoked to a mummy. Corrong natives, in 139o of 36o”. The image is signed “G.M.60”. [JD 23/8/2007]

CUMAA Exhibition: P.84112.ACH2 to P.85713.ACH2 were on display in the SSL as part of the Brook Andrew ‘The Island’ Exhibition, 24th June - 27th September 2008. [JD 25/6/2008]

Bibliographical Reference: For discussion of authorship see: Allen, H. 2006. Authorship and ownership in Blandowski's Australien in 142 Photographischen Abbildungen. Australasian Historical Archaeology 24:31-37. [Jane Lydon, Monash University, 8/7/2009]

Publication: Blandowski, W. 1862. Australien in 142 Photographischen Ahbildungen. Gustav Neumann, Gleiwicz. Edited by Harry Alien. Translated from the German by Lillian Barton. Translation Copyright: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2007. with the caption:
“121. In Encounter Bay and in the Coorong area, the dead warriors are attached to a frame in a sitting position. Ochre and grease are rubbed over them and then the frame placed over a fire m order to smoke the bodies to become mummies. Drawing by W.v. Blandowski.” [WV 6/4/2009]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Jocelyne Dudding 23/8/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Aboriginal Visual Histories Project, Monash University. [Wonu Veys 7/4/2009]