Kelp water carrier
Artist
Eva Richardson
(1936)
Date2011
Object number00050837
NameWater carrier
MediumKelp and tea tree
DimensionsOverall: 380 x 120 x 115 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis bull kelp water carrier made by Tasmanian artist Eva Richardson. The carrier is also called a water basket and were used to carry fresh water and to drink from.
The basket is made from kelp (Durvillaea potatorum) collected locally and held together by tea tree (Melaleuca sp.) sticks.HistoryThe problem of carrying small amounts of fresh water was solved by Indigenous Tasmanians with the making of baskets made from kelp and having tea tree sticks to transport them and hang them from tree branches.
Recently (2009) Tasmanian artists Verna Nichols and Leonie Dickson were shown a photograph of a carrier collected in 1851 and now in the collection of the British Museum, London. It shows a different configuration for the tea tree sticks than has been commonly used in recent decades. Both artists are of the opnion that the 1851 example is better suited to carrying and drinking from and, as a result, have changed their style of fabrication.
Kelp water carriers are specific to Tasmanian Aboriginal people and are cured by smoking and burying the kelp in hot sand to give it form and shape.SignificanceWater carriers made from bull kelp are specific to Tasmanian Aboriginal people with an example dating to 1851 being held by the British Museum. The making of bull kelp containers is a tradition of the Aboriginal people of the Furneaux Islands group off the north east coast of Tasmania (including the main islands of Flinders and Cape Barren) and the west coast of mainland Tasmania.
