AHOW: 089 Australian bark shield 7 Oct 2010




A History of the World in 100 Objects show

Summary: Aboriginal shield collected by Captain Cook. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, looks at a shield owned by one of the first Indigenous Australians to set eyes on Europeans, as they descended on Botany Bay in 1770. What can this object tell us about the early encounters between two such different cultures? With contributions by Phil Gordon, of the Australian Museum, Sydney, and the historian Maria Nugent.