IDNO

P.87318.VH

Description

Dufty studio portrait of three untamed Noiemalu highlanders from up the Wainimala river, dressed in pre-Christian style. These three men also feature in P.4116.ACH1.
Early 1870s. [Fergus Clunie, 26/7/2003]

Studio portrait of three seated untamed “big head” Kai Colo or Viti Levu highlanders wearing malo loincloths, and with their hairdressed in traditional styles that have yet, in their case, to be censored by the Wesleyans. The man at left wears a batinivuaka boar tusk pendant with what looks like shell-beaded strings attached. The man at right, with the lime-bleached hair, a batinivuaka with what looks like bead-studded sausauwai ties. All of the men wear qato or lavei bracelets, cut from the sici or trochus shell, above the elbow. The man seated on the right wears a white shell necklace and a civa breast-plate, the ornamental strings of which are studded with white shells or shell beads.
Circa 1869-1871. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003, from record P.4116.ACH1, updated JD 5/11/2011]

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka

Cultural Affliation

Kai Colo [historically Big Head Mountaineers]

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1869 - 1871

Collection Name

Von Hugel Collection

Source

Format

Carte-de-visite; Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Related Image: This print appears to be the original image from which the associated photographs have been derived from. [JD 8/11/2011]

P.87297.VH to P.87320.VH were wrapped in the piece of paper now numbered C512/3/. This envelope came from the Museum’s paper archive envelope VH1/4/7, which has now been re-numbered C512/.

Publication: A carte-de-visit of the same men ( (and duplicate of P.87204., P.99981.VH, and P.109436.) is held at the State Library of Victoria, reference H2005.34/1090, with the following information:
Title: [Studio portraits of Fijians by F. & A. Dufty, Fiji] [picture] / F. & A. Dufty.
Author/Creator: Dufty, F. & A.
Date(s): [ca. 1868-ca. 1885]
Description: 8 photographic prints on carte de visite mounts : albumen silver ; 11 x 7 cm.
Copyright status: This work is out of copyright.
Index terms: Australia; Francis and Alfred Dufty; studio portraits; Fiji; Fijians
Notes: Title assigned by cataloguer.
Dufty Bros. operated from Fiji between 1870's and 1880's. Ref.: Australians behind the camera, directory of early Australian photographers, 1841-1945 / Sandy Barrie, 2002.
Photographer printed on verso of H2005.34/1085-87, 1089: F. & A. Dufty / Photographers / Levuka / Fiji.
Photographer printed on verso of H2005.34/1085-88, 1090-92: F. & A. Dufty / Photographers / Levuka and Suva / Fiji.
Contents/Summary: Three men, two sitting, one in centre standing and holding a weapon shaped like a sword but made of wood, all whole-length, facing camera, in native costume
Source/Donor: Gift of Mr John Etkins; 2005.
[Source: http://search.slv.vic.gov.au, JD 12/3/2012]

Publication: A similar image published in ‘The Fiji Journals of Baron Anatole Von Hugel 1875 - 1877’, edited by Jane Roth and Steven Hooper (1990), plate 36, page 250. [Alex Nadin, 12/02/2003]

Publication: A similar photograph is on the website ‘www.justpacific.com’ in the section concerning the photographs of the Dufty Brothers. [Alex Nadin, 12/02/2003]

Publication: A similar photograph is on Rod Ewins’ internet site www.justpacific.com:
“Big head” mountain men (kai colo), wearing wigs of human hair (ulumate). These warriors were justifiaby feared by their coastal neighbours, who retaliated by stigmatising their name to mean “bushwhackers”. The men pictured here wear only malo loincloths. The seated men wear pigs’ tusks (bati ni vuaka). The standing man wears a civa pearl-shell and holds a rootstock club with a fibre-bound handle (waka vividrasa). (See Ewins, 1982 pp.34-36).” [Alex Nadin, 12/02/2003]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Program One. [A. Nadin, 2/7/2003]