IDNO

P.85738.ACH2

Description

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.235.ACH1: “Natives digging for Leipoa eggs (Eucalyptus dimosa [sic dumosa]).

Two Aboriginal men digging for Mallee-Fowl (Leipoa ocellata) eggs in two earth mounds under white Mallee (Eucalyptus dumosa) trees.
The female Mallee-Fowl or Thermometer-Bird "builds her nest out of sand. She cleverly buries her eggs deep enough that once they are hatched by the warmth of the sun the young birds don't suffocate. The Aborigines find the search for these nests worthwhile because there's often the promise of a big meal."
"The Mallee is an extensive waterless plain scattered with chalk pebbles the size of nuts." [See Blanddowski 1862, pl.45]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Australia; Victoria; Darling River; Murray River

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Muetzel, Gustav [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.85724. to P.85811. were tied together in a bundle.

Bibliographical Reference: Blandowski, William von, 1862. Australien in 142 Photographischen (Unpublished), with the caption “Aborigines of Australia, Plate 152. William v. Blandowski, Australia. Natives digging for Leipoa eggs (Eucalyptus dimosa [sic dumosa])”. The image is signed “G.M.60”. [JD 23/8/2007]

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:
“45. The Mallee, an extensive waterless plain scattered with chalk pebbles the size of nuts is associated with melancholic pastoral tales; Australians can recognize at first glance its characteristic tangled scrub, the ubiquitous bush Mallee (Eucalyptus dumosa) which is difficult to get through. The Mallee is home to the odd Lipoa bird. The female bird builds her nest out of sand. She cleverly buries her eggs deep enough that once they are hatched by the warmth of the sun the young birds don't suffocate. The Aborigines find the search for these nests worthwhile because there's often the promise of a big meal.” [WV 27/3/2009]

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 1/4/2009]