IDNO

LS.109314.TC1

Description

On Catalogue Card: "MABUIAG. W. Torres Sts.
Nomoa, chief of Mabuiag - with wap - dugong harpoon and 2 dugong." [manuscript in ink]

On Catalogue Card for duplicate print P.1149.ACH1: "Nomoa, chief of Mabuiag, holding dugong harpoon, ‘wap’, and showing two dugong caught when A.C.H. was with them in the boat."

Portrait of Nomoa, the Mamoose of Mabuiag, standing behind a large dugong side on, and a small dugong front on. The two dugongs were caught during Haddon’s accompanying Nomoa on a dugong hunt and the smaller of the two dugongs was presented to Haddon. Nomoa is wearing a t-shirt and calico (sarong) holding a feathered wap (harpoon). In the background is a thatched corrugate iron cottage with a verandah and flag pole. To the left is another corrugated iron cottage and a man. [JD 19/5/2011, description from P.1149.ACH1, JD 08/09/2021]

Nomoa standing wearing t-shirt and calico (sarong) holding a feathered wap (harpoon). In front is a large dugong side on, and a small dugong front on. Behind him a thatched tin cottage with verandah, and a flag pole. To the left another tin cottage and a man. [J. Philp, 9/3/1999, description from P.1149.ACH1, JD 08/09/2021]

Place

Oceania Australasia; Oceania Melanesia; Australia; Torres Strait; Mabuiag [Mabuyag]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Mauga Nomoa

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Haddon, Alfred Cort

Date

?1890

Collection Name

Teaching Slide CollectionHaddon Unmounted Collection

Source

Haddon, Alfred Cort (Dr)

Format

Lantern Slide Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Related Archive: Referenced in notebook titled ‘List of Torres-Straits Photographs. 1888 - 1889. A.C. Haddon’, "65 A. Chief of Mabuiag with dugong. Mabuiag." [JD 20/4/2011]

Date: Haddon arrived at Mabuiag 18/9/1888 and left 26/10/1888 (Journal 1888: 41-62). While there Acting Government Resident, Hugh Milman authorised that "the local police will be put under my orders and they will take me out dredging etc. " (1888: 3). [J. Philp, 9/3/1999]

Named Person: Haddon names the ‘chief’ (Mamoose) as Nomoa, and records a dugong hunting expedition in his journal, the smaller dugong was presented as a gift to Haddon. (1888: 53-8).
On reverse of P.23322.ACH2 is written "Brown’s Station @ Banai. Mauga - Mamoose of Mabuiag with 2 dugong he had speared". As this photograph is caption Nomoa in the Reports it is likely that Haddon mistook the name or that Mauga was a nickname. [J. Philp, 9/3/1999]

Related Archive: Haddon records the dugong hunting expedition in his journal, the smaller dugong was presented as a gift to Haddon. (1888: 53-8). [J. Philp, 9/3/1999]

Related Archive: Haddon writes of going on a dugong hunt in his 1888 Journal, noting, "One morning in October I accompanied the Mamoose of Mabuiag on a Dugong hunt, the crew of the lugger (all the fishing boats here are ‘luggers’) numbered some dozen men, all natives of the island. On our way out the gear was put in order. ...
The Mamoose stands on the nose of the bowsprit wap in the hand and with the other steadying himself by the rigging and well he may – for or the boat is pitching and tossing considerably. Behind him in the bow stands a man who looks after the rope, perched a short way up the foremast is the lookout man and behind are the rest of us with glistening eyes intent on the unconscious sirenian making at most the clacking sound, so characteristic of these Islanders, or a whistle.
All of a sudden Mamoose springs into the water wap in hand, using the latter after the mammal of a leaping pole. The aim was good and the velocity of the spring in addition to the weight of the spearsman has driven the dart well homes and it is firmly imbedded in the thick, dense skin of the Dugong, who is, by this time, steaming off followed by the trailing rope." (pp.53-55) [JD 19/5/2011]

Publication: Similar image printed in Reports IV: Plate XXIII, fig. 4 and captioned: "Fig 4. Nomoa, chief of Mabuiag with two dugong ( pp. 166 - 169)." [J. Philp, 9/3/1999, JD 08/09/2021]

MAA Exhibition: Same image included in 1920s Exhibition Case Binders "Cases 5-10. Torres Strait." (OA2/16/4) captioned: "20. Nomoa, chief of Mabuiag holding a dugong harpoon.
An old and a young dugong.
Vol. IV, p.169.
Photo. taken 1888 by A.C. Haddon." [JD 08/09/2021]

CUMAA Exhibition: ‘Torres Strait Islanders: An Exhibition Marking the Centenary of the 1898 Cambridge Anthropological Exhibition’ at UCMAA, July 1998 to December 2000, with following label "Photograph. Nomoa, mamoose of Mabuiag, standing behind two dugong. He holds a whap (harpoon), which is still used today to hunt dugong. Mabuiag, 1888. P.1149.ACH1." [F. Veys, 28/7/2006']

Related Image: Otto Finsch reproduced this image, along with P.1148.ACH1, as a watercolour and published it in O. Finsch, ‘Beiträge zur Völkerkunde der westlichen Südsee’ [‘Contributions to the ethnology of the western Pacific’], original images, Pl. 146. IV. Natives, Pl. III, and captioned "Dugong hunt; Mabiak (Jervis Isl.), Torres Str. 1. Man with harpoon and slain dugong. 2. Man with harpoon on platform." [Source: 'Between wealth and poverty: Otto Finsch on Mabuyag, 1881' by Hilary Howes. In Memoirs of the Queensland Museum | Culture Volume 8 Part 1, 2015, p.233, JD 06/01/2021]