Shield - Goolmary

The diversity of iconography and patterning to be found in the designs painted onto objects made and used by Aboriginal people reinforces the strong cultural distinctions that exist across Aboriginal Australia. This distinctive 19th century shield is typical in shape to those associated with Queensland, and is provenanced to Port Mackay on the Capricornia coast of central Queensland. However it is unusually incised and has a distinctive geometric patterning of red and black, the latter not commonly used by Aboriginal people in painting except in discrete areas of Australia. The design has been overlaid on a base of white pipe clay left at the ends to form bands. Little documentation accompanies this shield other than its association with the collection of Isidore de Beer in 1891. The wood is said to have been kurrajong or 'Brachychiton', and the name recorded for this shield is 'goolmary'. It is not evident what this word refers to, whether it is the shield itself or the wood or whether it is the name of the group it came from.