Skip to main content
Advanced Search
Image Not Available for Toothie shell, Marieneer shell and Black Cat's Teeth shell necklace
Toothie shell, Marieneer shell and Black Cat's Teeth shell necklace
Image Not Available for Toothie shell, Marieneer shell and Black Cat's Teeth shell necklace

Toothie shell, Marieneer shell and Black Cat's Teeth shell necklace

Maker (1923)
Date1998
Object number00030308
NameNecklace
MediumCotton/nylon, Toothie shell, Marieneer shell and Black Cat's teeth shells
DimensionsOverall: 940 x 15 mm, 0.04 kg
ClassificationsClothing and personal items
Credit LineANMM Collection
SignificanceTwo hundred years later, Palawa women continue this important association of exchange and gift giving with shell necklaces. As Palawa people’s lives were drastically changed by one of the harshest episodes of colonisation in the history of Australia, they added new meanings to their shellwork.

Nowadays, pollution, over-collecting and fishing activities mean that the maireener shells – especially the larger ones – are becoming increasingly hard to find. Palawa shellwork, which was widely collected from the 19th century as curios and souvenirs – once an unknown part of community sustenance and survival – has, since the 1990s, been much sought after by collectors and institutions around the world as a contemporary cultural practice, assisting Palawa women to maintain this particular important cultural practice.