Gweagal shield
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The Gweagal shield is made from wooden tree bark, is oval-shaped, and stands about 1m tall. It was found in the late 18th century in Australia and has subsequently been displayed in the British Museum, amongst others.
Given Britain's colonial past, the ownership and display of this shield has been subject to debate as Australian Gweagal descendants have pointed to the emotional, cultural, and healing value of the shield being back where it was found, notwithstanding the more appropriate cultural knowledge pool of indigenous people and Australian academics.[citation needed] In spite of this, the British Museum has refused all requests to return the shield to the country where it was found.[citation needed]
History
Accession
Originally, this shield is thought to have been recovered by James Cook on his voyage on the Endeavour to discover Oceania.[1] On the morning of 29 April 1770, it is documented that one of Cook's ships arrived at Botany Bay, near Sydney, in what is now New South Wales,[1] and smaller long boats appeared which landed on the beach, where tribesmen and women hid behind the tree line.[2] Being described as 'first contact'[3] by British Museum former director Neil MacGregor is an understatement.[1] In an attempt to show that the new ship was not welcome on this bay, two Australian warriors began to throw spears.[2] As the story goes for a lot of colonisation, there was no attempt on the part of the landers to address the nation's people peacefully and so, with Cook as British Navy Officer in command, musket shots were fire on the beaches inhabitants.[2] One Gweagal tribe member, Cooman, was shot in the leg.[4] It is commented by historian Marc Fennell in conversation with Rodney Kelley that when one is shot by a British naval officer as a tribesman death is likely.[2]
The shield is then picked up by Cook's party and they remained in the bay for eight days[2] before leaving to travel North.
Where it appears most clear that the shield was acquired on Botany Bay in 1770, there is evidence that casts doubt on the robustness of this claim. There is no accession number, no display history in the British Museum, and no real information.[5] Only a short label with 'CAP:COOK' starts the trail of ownership history in 19th-century British Museum records.[1] It was in 1978 that the shield was found in the store of the museum, and was then given a registration and "Q number".[6]
Origin
There is debate as to the origin of the shield. On first analysis it appears as if the shield came from the Gweagal tribe, the material and the position of the handle say otherwise.[7] Sculthorpe (curator at the British Museum's Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas) et al. moot that there are two main distinguishing factors that place the shield's origin elsewhere. Nicholas Thomas writes that compared to Miller's drawing in Bank's collection, the handle is not in the same place as other Gweagal tribe shields.[7][1] Art historian Alice Procter is skeptical as to the weight of this conclusion from this evidence.[1] Their second, and more powerful point is on the composition of the shield.
The investigation of the shield came at a time when Rodney Kelly pinpointed the shield as his ancestors, so liberal art historians and lawyers question the timing of this new investigation by Nugent, Thomas, and Sculthorpe and indict it as an attempt to cast undue doubt on a shield's origin to protect the owning institution from repatriation claims.[1]
Damage
There is debate around the small circle-shaped hole in the shield.[citation needed] The British Museum have stated that upon diagnostic scanning using state fo the art variable pressure scanning electron microscope (VP-SEM), scientists affiliated with the British Museum have confirmed that the shield is red mangrove wood (Rhizophora stylosa). Radiographic images show that the small hole near the centre is a result of damage due to the ragged edges, rather than any natural knotting in the wood falling out.[8][9]
Rodney Kelley, a sixth-generation descendant of the shot warrior Cooman, is sure that the hole came from musket fire by Cook's men.[2] This is based on good testimony from diary accounts of colonising explorers present, like that of Beaglehole.[10][11] Nonetheless, there is no conclusive answer to this question; members of the British Army who have experience firing the type of muskets used in the Colonial Cook era state that the damage is not conducive with the type of damage normally done by these weapons.[2] Either way, the presence of a hole does not take away from the symbolic, cultural, and ownership significance of this piece.
Cultural significance
Claims to the shield
Why, if 40–50 spears were recovered (of which four remain), is it the shield that is subject to most controversy? The answer lies in the academic link to decolonisation, imagery, and storytelling.[citation needed]
Display history
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True decolonisation
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References
- ^ a b c d e f g Procter, Alice (2020). The Whole Picture. Cassell. p. 138.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Shots Fired". ABC Radio National. 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
- ^ MacGregor, Neil (2010). "Episode 89 - A History of the World in 100 Objects". BBC Radio 4.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Keenan, Sarah (2018). 'How the British Museum Changed its Story About the Gweagal Shield'. Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association.
- ^ Thomas, Nicholas (Feb 2018). "A Case of Identity:The Artefacts of 1770 Kamay (Botany Bay) Encounter". Australian Historical Studies: 49:1.
- ^ "shield | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
- ^ a b Nugent & Sculthorpe (Feb 2018). "A Shield Loaded with History: Encounters, Objects, and Exhibitions". Australian Historical Studies. 49:1: 39.
- ^ Attenbrow & Cartwright 2014, An Aboriginal shield collected in 1770 at Kamay Botany Bay
- ^ MacGregor 2010, A History of the World in 100 Objects (89)
- ^ Beaglehole, J.C. (ed.) 1955. The Journals of Captain Cook: The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768-1771. Cambridge: For the Hakluyt Society at the University Press (entry for April 29th, 1770).
- ^ Beaglehole, J.C. (ed.) 1963. The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768-1771, Volume II. Sydney, London: Angus & Robertson (from page 54, from page 133).