Authenticity & Provenance

Since the early 1990s museums, art galleries and private collectors throughout Australia have been collecting the cultural production of Tasmania's Aboriginal people and in particular their 'shell necklaces' more actively – Reference Links [1] • [2] • [3] • [4] • [5] • [6] • [7] • [8] • [9] • [10] As a consequence "Tasmanian Aboriginal Shell Necklaces" have since received more attention in the wider Tasmanian community than they have previously enjoyed. On the other hand, shell necklaces have been sought after souvenirs in Tasmania since 19th Century colonial times.

Arguably, 'shell necklaces' are quintessential exemplars of 'Tasmaniana' even if currently that may be a revisitation of a past understanding.

As is the case with all material cultural production 'provenance ' is the key element in developing meaningful understandings of the cultural cargo an object carries. Sadly, the hierarchies attributed to 'personal adornment' has meant that its significance has often been downplayed. Consequently, when such work came into a museum collection it often came with a paucity of information relevant to provenance, authenticity and cultural context.

Since 2001 the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) has been at the forefront of raising the wider community's awareness of Tasmanian Aboriginal shell necklace making. When the QVMAG opened its Inveresk campus in 2001 the museum consolidated its activities on two campuses. In doing so it substantially extended its exhibition opportunities.

The QVMAG "Strings Across Time" exhibit opened at that time and it was a high point in the opening of the redevolped Inveresk campus. The museum finally had the opportunity to exhibit this component of its collection in a contemporary context. Furthermore, it also had an incentive – subliminal ? – to do so given the sociopolitical and cultural dynamics that were in play at the time – and that largely remains the case today in Tasmania and nationally.

After a long period of contention to do with the museum's representation and presentation of Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural material the Strings Across Time exhibit held the promise of a more inclusive future. This was something that was long awaited by the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. The ways Tasmanian Aboriginal community and their cultural production has been represented in both of Tasmania's major museums (TMAG & QVMAG) has been contested – and it remains a highly contentious aspect of museum practice in Tasmania.

This particular QVMAG exhibit is unique in Australia in that it brings together a comprehensive survey of 40 necklaces and all largely drawn from the museum's own collections compiled over the life of the institution. Interestingly, since the early 1990s public collections throughout Australia began to actively collect and pay more attention to these necklaces in parallel with a more intense interest in Aboriginal artmaking in Australia. Consistent with this the prices contemporary makers are able to realise for their work have increased significantly.

The QVMAG's Strings Across Time exhibit aims to be definitive. In many ways it sets out to chart and celebrate the evolution of the cultural practice in Tasmania. The work of 19th Century Tasmanian Aboriginal makers is exhibited alongside the work of contemporary Tasmanian Aboriginal women. Indeed it includes material collected by George Augustus Robinson who has provided some of the earliest reports relevant to Tasmanian Aboriginal necklace making – and these reports continue to be valued as an important reference.

By implication, this QVMAG exhibit can also lays claim to, and is understood as, setting a national benchmark reference for the handling of this aspect of Tasmania Aboriginal cultural production. Somewhat ironically the piece that has become the quasi 'signature' piece of a kind in the exhibit is in various ways an atypical example of necklace making in Tasmania – albeit that there is little doubt about the necklace's Aboriginal authenticity given its provenance.

It turns out however that the Strings Across Time exhibit does not draw attention to, indeed it overlooks, the colonial commercial production of shell necklaces that it seems came to be known as "Hobart Necklaces" [LINK] – at least euphemistically. These necklaces exploit the same key shells [LINK] used in Tasmania Aboriginal cultural production. Commonly this material is being confused with Aboriginal cultural production in the 'Australiana cum antique' market – especially so most recently on eBAY.

The Hobart Necklace story comes with its own rich set of narratives even if they are contentious – and unsurprisingly laced with 'colonial innuendo'. Nonetheless, there is increasing evidence that these necklaces were produced in quite large numbers from at least 1875 and seemingly up until the 1950s – and possibly longer – and for the most part as souvenirs of Tasmania.

There is increasing evidence that this material was largely understood in the context of the 'economic use of Australia's/Tasmania's natural materials' and more to the point, in a colonial context – i.e. A shell necklace, shell, 'Cantharidus badius', Australia, 1905 – Powerhouse Museum collection E3623.

There are distinctions between Aboriginal cultural production and the commercial production of Hobart Necklaces however they are unclear and confusing. The two are confusable and it is increasingly clear that 'Hobart Necklaces' have been deliberately, surreptitiously or unknowingly misrepresented as "Tasmanian Aboriginal Maireener Necklaces". This has been seen most recently on eBAY.

The incentive to represent this material as 'Aboriginal' seems to be to do with the ascending value of Aboriginal art and material cultural production. This increase in 'value' is evidenced by the fact that in the early 1990s contemporary necklaces made by Aboriginal makers were selling for less than $100 whereas currently examples of similar quality regularly command prices between $1,000 and $2,000 with some possibly selling for higher sums.

None of this discounts in any way the authenticity or integrity of contemporary Aboriginal shell necklace making. Neither does it do anything to downplay the cultural potency of, or the integrity of, Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural production in community life prior to the 1990s. Indeed to the contrary!