X — Foelsche's Aboriginal Portraits
A Note on Foelsche's Portraits
Like his landscape photographs, Foelsche's portraits also cast light on the photographer and his techniques. They also raise many questions about Foelsche's relationship with those sitting for his portraits – more than 260 Aboriginal individuals over a period of 15 years, from 1877 to 1891.
Sitting or Standing
Foelsche commenced his series of Aboriginal portraits in November 1877. He began by photographing people standing next to a measuring scale, following anthropological procedure. He soon found that this was unsatisfactory, as standing figures were more likely to move and blur the picture, despite his use of a metal support stand.
During the 1880s most of his subjects are seated on a bentwood-backed chair. Foelsche found that by asking people to hold their arms in a slightly crossed fashion, he could mask the presence of the chair's bentwood back. It is still visible though, in many of his portraits. While most of his subjects had never sat on a chair before, it seems to have provided a more comfortable setting.
Nakedness
Unlike many nineteenth-century photographers of Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia, Paul Foelsche didn't ask his subjects to remove clothing. In many cases, they already were unashamedly naked. This fact was commented on by prudish townspeople in Palmerston, for example. After 1880, Foelsche supplied men and women with lower garments of printed fabric, which they wore specifically for the portraits. The same garment appears in multiple portraits.
A Matt Effect
In several portraits, an individual's face seems a little darker, as though blackened slightly. Foelsche acknowledged this in a 1909 conversation with the anthropologist William Ramsay Smith. He had found that his first portraits suffered from high contrast, resulting from reflections on people's shiny faces. His solution was to ask them to apply powdered charcoal to their faces. All this suggests that, at Palmerston and Port Essington, as elsewhere, Aboriginal people may have regarded the photographic process as a mysterious rite of passage.
Estimating Ages
Foelsche's surviving photographic lists form the basis of the documentation of his portrait series. His record of people's names appears to be reliable. Their ages are his estimates though, probably arrived at by reference to key events, such as the departure of British from Port Essington (1848), or the arrival of the South Australians at Escape Cliffs (1864).
Respecting the Old People
Despite his role as a powerful police official, Paul Foelsche prepared these portraits with great care and sympathy. The people they depict all passed away several generations ago, and these images can be regarded safely now, without offending the living or the spirits of the dead.
As the Larrakia artist, Gary Mura Lee, puts it, 'we see past the measuring stick and all that it represents and we see strong, beautiful people – our people'.
Portraits of Larrakia People I
The Larrakia are the traditional owners of the Darwin region, and have maintained their cultural identity since the South Australian colonists arrived in their country during 1869.
In his 1881 paper on the Larrakia, Foelsche maintained that their numbers had not diminished since the arrival of South Australian colonists, about eleven years earlier. He estimated a population of 500, with 100 men, 120 women, 150 young people of both sexes and 130 children. The European population in Larrakia country was also about 500, but by this time the Top End's Chinese population exceeded 4,000.
Foelsche's description made it clear that the Larrakia lived in a land of plenty, with ready supplies of fish, reptiles, game, plant foods such as yams, and eggs of the turtle, geese and crocodile. They used finely made spears and spearthrowers for hunting, and elegant bark canoes, 'paddled at great speed'. Decorated woven baskets and bags were used for carrying food items. This material existence supported a rich social and ceremonial life.
By 1890 the Larrakia camps in Palmerston had begun to succumb to worsening conditions, as experienced in fringe camps elsewhere in Aboriginal Australia.
As mines, pastoral properties and townships were established the Larrakia found their social fabric and material existence under threat. Remarkably, there was little direct conflict. The Larrakia saw some material benefits in the European presence, and gradually became dependent on their commodities. By 1890, a decade after Foelsche's written description, European diseases and alcoholism were taking their toll.
Foelsche's portraits of the Larrakia evoke a period when they were still acknowledged as the traditional owners of their land, even by the Europeans who had displaced them.
1. Alligator Ned, April 1878, aged about 34
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
The trousers are prison-issue, suggesting that this man, like several Larrakia men and women from the early 1870s, had encountered the European legal system.
2. Alligator Ned, 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Artificial highlights have been added to the eyes on the original negative, possibly by William Ramsay Smith, who acquired Foelsche's negatives in 1909.
3. Elbow Davy, 1890, 34 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
The distinctive bone condition affecting his elbows enables him to be identified in the photograph of Larrakia ceremony, adjacent.
4. Squire, April 1878, aged 29
Digitally printed from 600dpi scans of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
A clay pipe is tucked into his armband.
5. Wife of Alligator Ned (nos. 1, 2), April 1878, aged about 35
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wife of Alligator Ned (nos. 1, 2), with her young child.
6. Elbow Davy, April 1878, 22 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scans of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Elbow Davy (also no.3), wearing the lambudgela brabailma, bark belt.
7. Ada, wife of Elbow Dave (nos. 3, 6), 1890, aged 25 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scans of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
8. Mary Ann, also known as Mrs Squire, April 1878, aged 28
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Probably worked as a washerwoman for Palmerston residents. Sister to Mary Ann, Daly's wife (no.13).
9. Daly, February 1879, aged about 22
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Daly, known to Palmerston residents as an athlete who won high-jumping competitions held during the 1870s. A few months after this photograph he was gaoled for murdering his wife.
10. Daly, July 1888, aged about 30
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Daly (also no.9), wearing arm tassels, armbands, necklets and head ornaments. See no. 55 for Emily, Daly's sister.
11. Tommy, May 1879, aged 60
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
12. Tom Cherry, 1887, aged 47
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
One of three Larrakia men who were taken to Adelaide during 1870, in order to be shown 'the power of the white race'.
13. Mary Ann, wife of Daly (nos. 9, 10) in November 1877, aged 25 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Sister to Mrs Squire (no.8). She worked for Europeans in Palmerston as a washerwoman, and was allegedly murdered by Daly in mid-1879.
14. Mary Ann, a later wife of Daly (nos. 9, 10), aged 21 in July 1888
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
15. Mary, wife of Old Tommy (no.11), 1890, aged 30
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
16. Mary, wife of Tom Cherry (no. 12), 22 years in 1887
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
17. Harry Coonah, 1887, aged 30
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
18. Davey Guillemaine, July 1888, aged 25
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
His chest is decorated with ceremonial designs, suggesting that a performance had been held shortly before. Davey was probably employed as a police-tracker by Foelsche.
19. Miranda, aged 35 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
This photo was probably taken in 1879, at the time of his arrest with other Larrakia men for the spearing death of 'Scotchman'.
20. Miggy, wife of Miranda (nos. 19, 23) in September 1888, aged 20 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
21. Maggy, wife of Harry Coonah (no. 17), 1890, aged 18 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
22. Nellie, wife of Davey Guillemaine (no. 18), aged 17 in January 1889
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
23. Miranda, aged 47 years in July 1888
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Now an authoritative elder, known to Europeans as the 'King of the Larrakeyas'. He was arrested in June 1887 for assaulting a policeman who ordered him out of town. His prison sentence was reduced to one month when his 'good character' was spoken for by another policeman, Corporal Stretton.
24. Maude, another wife of Miranda (nos. 19, 23) in 1888, aged 29 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
25. Big Ned, 1890, 50 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
26. Billy Harvey, 1890, 35 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
In this portrait Foelsche's practice of applying powdered charcoal to the faces of some of his photographic subjects is evident, reducing the reflection caused by the Aboriginal practice of rubbing animal fat onto the skin.
27. Nelly, wife of Billy Harvey (no. 26), 1890, aged 28
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
28. Biliamuk Gapal, 1890, 34 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Biliamuk was a prominent Larrakia identity. One of the first to actively engage with the South Australians at Port Darwin in 1869, he became a key cultural broker, visited Adelaide in 1870, and worked briefly for Foelsche as a tracker. He was also occasionally imprisoned for minor offences, and while in gaol during 1888, produced one of the drawings which was included in the 'Dawn of Art' exhibition held in Melbourne.
29. Wife of Big Ned (no. 25), 1890, aged 17
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing the sarong cloth supplied by Foelsche for the photograph
30. Mary, wife of Billy Harvey (no. 26), September 1888, aged 17
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
31. Mary Adcock, wife of Biliamuk (no. 28) in 1887, aged 27
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She appeared as a witness in the trial of Larrakia men for the spearing of 'Scotchman' in 1879.
32. Another wife of Biliamuk (no. 28), unnamed, 23 years old in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
33. Timbook, 1890, aged 30 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Timbook worked as a message-boy in Palmerston during the early 1880s and provoked a warning from the courts that alcohol should not be given in exchange for this work.
34. One of Timbook's (no.33) two wives in 1890, aged 35
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
35. Biglik, May 1879, aged about 62
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
In early 1879 Biglik (also nos. 79 and 69) was called as a witness by Foelsche in the investigation of the spearing death of a Larrakia man, Scotchman. A journalist wrote: 'the venerable Larrakeyah turned his back in disdain on the bench, and looked out onto the verandah after his youthful spouse'.
36. Sambo, April 1878, 21 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Paul Foelsche's police-tracker. A journalist observed that 'when any important capture is to be made by the police, the natives Sambo and Solomon are employed. Without their assistance the police seem powerless'. ('Northern Territory Times') In 1879 Sambo was among those arrested for the spearing of Scotchman.
37. Nelly, wife of Timbook (no.33), aged 19 in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
38. Duncan, 1890, 40 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Prominent as an athlete in early Palmerston sports days.
39. Larrakia woman, wife of Duncan (no.38) in 1890, 16 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
40. Dick, April 1878, aged 21
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a bag containing personal items.
41. Charly, February 1879, aged 18
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a bark belt and European trousers, perhaps indicating his imprisonment.
42. Jemmy, 1890, aged 23
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
His skin appears to be coated with powdered charcoal.
43. Peter, July 1888, aged 47
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a patterned sarong supplied for the photograph.
44. Mr Knight, Mangminone, February 1879, 24 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
According to Foelsche, Mangminone contracted smallpox at the age of five (well before Europeans arrived.), possibly from Malay trepang fishermen visiting the northern coast.
45. Patty, 1887, aged 23 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
46. Morris, 1887, aged 21 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
47. Whybrow Pickles, February 1879, aged 18
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Pickles crossed paths with Foelsche's police colleagues several times during following years, mostly over the possession or theft of alcohol.
48. Benham, February 1879, aged 28
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Photographed soon after his arrest (together with Davey, Sambo, Rowdy and Miranda) for the murder of 'Scotchman'.
Portraits of Larrakia People II
49. Binmuck, April 1878, 38 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Possibly a sister of a Larrakia man of the same name, who was flogged for throwing a spear at the first Government Resident, Captain Douglas, in early 1870. This man was later known as 'Scotchman', and was speared in 1879 by a group of Larrakia men including Sambo, Benham, and Miranda.
50. Kate, February 1879, 16 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
51. Emily (Mrs Babby), April 1878, 44 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
52. Harriet, 15 years old, photographed in about 1880
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
53. Mary Marsh, April 1878, 16 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche's handwritten note on the back of one of his prints reads 'use[d] to live with Miss Allen'. Probably employed as a housemaid in Palmerston.
54. Mary, February 1879, aged 16 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
'Mary' was the most common name applied to Larrakia women by Palmerston residents. Foelsche was content to use these names, rather than transcribing the more difficult Larrakia names.
55. Emily (old Bobby's wife), April 1878, aged 21 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Emily was sister to Daly (nos. 9, 10).
56. Flora, aged 15 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Probably photographed in 1879, with Foelsche's anthropometric scale.
57. Larrakia woman, 18 years, photographed in the late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
58. Mrs Pybus, 1890, 24 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Probably named after her employer, a telegraph station operator at Southport.
59. Eliza, September 1888, aged 28 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
60. Annie, 1887, aged 22 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
61. Minnie, 1887, aged 17 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
62. Mary Fry, 1890, aged 24 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
63. Topsy, 1887, aged 27 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
64. Annie, known as Blind Solomon's girl. Photographed in 1887, aged 17 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
65. Larrakia man, 26 years, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Heavily scarred, this unnamed man is wearing a kangaroo tooth headband. Foelsche wrote: 'There is no fixed rule as to how many cuts are made on the different parts of the body, but is left to the option and fancy of each individual person'.
66. Larrakia woman, 17 years, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
67. Flora, 29 years, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
68. Jimmy, 1887, 16 years old
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
May have been employed by a Palmerston man named Howard.
69. Larrakia woman, 20 years old, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
70. Larrakia woman, 17 years, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Her grass necklace incorporates glass trade beads.
71. Larrakia woman, 20 years, photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a set of shoulder bands, similar to those displayed here.
72. Larrakia woman, 20 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
73. Larrakia woman, 40 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
74. Larrakia woman, 37 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
75. Larrakia woman, 19 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
76. Larrakia woman, 21 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Her grass necklace incorporates glass trade beads.
77. Larrakia girl from Southport, 12 years old, photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
78. Larrakia woman, 24 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
No negatives survive for the following group of Foelsche's first Larrakia portraits. The photographs were taken in early November 1877, just before Foelsche sailed to Port Essington to photograph the Iwaidja people. He submitted a selection of these images to the Paris Exhibition of 1878.
79. Biglik, Larrakia elder, 60 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
He appears in the group photograph of Larrakia (no. 69), which Foelsche made in early November 1877. Foelsche made a more conventional studio portrait of Biglik during May 1879 (see no.35). Here he stands with a badly healed broken leg, perhaps steadied a little by Foelsche's metal photographic support.
80. Galandoo, about 40 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Galandoo is also included in Foelsche's photograph of ten Larrakia men and his larger group study. He is holding his spearthrower.
81. Larrakia woman, aged 23
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Larrakia woman wearing a skirt of cloth supplied by Foelsche.
82. Larrakia woman, aged 21 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a necklace of glass trade beads.
83. Larrakia woman, aged 28 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
The reason for the white powder on the feet of this woman and other Larrakia people in this series is unclear.
84. Larrakia girl, aged 10
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing necklace of glass trade beads, headband, nosepeg and cloth skirt provided by Foelsche. Also appears in children's group photograph, no. 71.
85. Larrakia girl, aged 11
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing nose-peg, chest-bands and armlets. Also appears in children's group photograph, no.71.
86. Mapimmeddy, aged 62
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
87. Lamoorar, aged 60
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
88. Larrakia woman, aged 25
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
89. Larrakia woman, aged 21
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
A clay pipe is tucked into her armband.
90. Larrakia woman, aged 38, and her child
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
The woman is blind, and we can assume that Foelsche understood that she preferred to be photographed with her child, and arranged the seat to enable this.
91. Larrakia girl, aged 11
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Also appears in children's group photograph, no.71.
92. Larrakia girl, aged 12
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Also appears in children's group photograph, no.71.
69. Larrakia people in camp, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of an original albumen print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche took this group photograph of Larrakia people in their camp at Palmerston during early November 1877. He subsequently made individual portraits of several of the men and women, including the Larrakia elder, Biglik (see nos. 35 and 79 in portrait series), who is seated at left. Foelsche went to lengths to ensure that almost every person in this photograph is clearly visible.
70. Group of Larrakia men, 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, R.J. Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Group of Larrakia men wearing ceremonial dress, posing before a public performance for the South Australian governor in 1891. Foelsche was able to collect the 'corroboree caps' worn in this ceremony for the South Australian Museum.
71. Group of Larrakia children, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original albumen print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Larrakia boys and girls photographed by Paul Foelsche in November 1877. Four of these children also appear as individual portraits (nos. 84, 85, 91, 92).
Daly River, Marrakai, Daly Waters and McArthur River Portraits
93. Daly River boy, 17 years, probably photographed in Palmerston during the 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing kangaroo teeth headband. Foelsche recorded his country as 'Daly River copper mines'.
94. Daly River man, 22 years, 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing string bag around neck.
95. Daly River man, 20 years, 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing kangaroo teeth headband, nosebone, grass-stem necklace and armbands.
96. Daly River woman, 19 years, photographed during 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
97. Marrakai Creek man, 27 years, 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing necklet of glass trade beads. This man's country lay to the east of the Adelaide River.
98. Marrakai Creek man, 27 years, 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing necklet of glass trade beads and nosebone. By 1890, land on the Marrakai Creek had been taken up for cattle grazing. Foelsche's son-in-law, H.W.H. Stevens, managed the property for the Fisher and Lyons pastoral company.
99. Daly Waters Telegraph Station man, 28 years, probably photographed during the late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
It is likely that this unnamed man worked for the telegraph operator at Daly Waters, 600 south of Palmerston, and was photographed during a visit to Palmerston in the company of his employer during the late 1880s.
100. McArthur River woman, aged 23 years, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
This unnamed woman may have accompanied one of the coastal steamers travelling between the McArthur River port of Borroloola and Palmerston.
11. Foelsche's Aboriginal Portraits
Djerimanga portraits
Paul Foelsche referred to the Djerimanga people as the Woolner. That term actually applied to Cape Woolner, where South Australian surveyors first encountered the Djerimanga in 1864. In fact, in Foelsche's words, the Djerimanga's territory was centred on 'both sides the Adelaide River for some sixty miles up it'.
The Finniss expedition of 1864-66 clashed with Djerimanga people and at least two were killed. Three years later, the young surveyor J.W.O. Bennett was speared in reprisal, close to the Adelaide River. This event, more than any other, led to Paul Foelsche's appointment in charge of a Northern Territory police force.
For several years the Djerimanga remained on uneasy terms with the South Australians, and with the Larrakia, on whose land the new settlements of Port Darwin and Palmerston were based. The Djerimanga camped outside Palmerston at first, but gradually established a permanent presence.
Foelsche took his first photographs of the Djerimanga during November 1877. His original list identifies several individuals by name. Other observers noted that the Djerimanga and Larrakia intermarried, but Foelsche's lists, which include husband and wives, do not suggest this.
During the 1890s Emu, or Lamaby became the recognised Djerimanga 'headman'. He acted as a guide and assistant when the South Australian Governor and Edward Stirling were taken on an Adelaide River cruise by Paul Foelsche (see image no.47 in Crocodiles and river cruises -section). Emu also became the main source of data on Djerimanga language and culture for the South Australian anthropologist T.A. Parkhouse.
101. Lialloon, May 1879, aged 40
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Ten years earlier, Lialloon had been among a group of Djerimanga men who speared the surveyor J.W.O. Bennett, a member of Goyder's survey team, in a revenge killing. Part of the South Australian Government's response was to appoint Paul Foelsche in charge of the first police contingent.
102. Jemmy Millar, Ibon-Tereba, 1880, 30 years old
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Bearing marks of leprosy, and wearing handcuffs following his arrest for the murder of the Collett's Creek publican, Robert Holmes. Millar was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Eight years later, his fine pencil drawings of animals were included in the 'Dawn of Art' exhibition in Melbourne.
103. Old Davey, 1890, aged 47
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing arm and neck tassels and grass necklace.
104. Djerimanga man of the Adelaide River, about 35 years, photographed in about 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing feather head-ornament.
105. Lialloon, May 1879, aged 40
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Lialloon (also no.101), photographed in profile seated on Foelsche's cedar chair, next to a two-metre anthropometric scale. The photograph shows the extent of ornamental cicatrices applied to Lialloon's body.
106. Dummy, 1887, aged 36 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He was deaf and dumb, communicating by sign language. Employed as a deliveryman and messenger in Palmerston, his directions 'as to where and to whom he should go' being indicated by 'some peculiarity in the person' (Alfred Searcy 1907).
107. Wife of Dummy, 1887, aged 26
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
108. Djerimanga woman of the Adelaide River, 23 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
109. Davy, 1887, 47 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche's accompanying note suggested that this man died soon after the photograph was taken. Foelsche has possibly directed him to sit in this unusual pose, showing the loss of fingers from both hands.
110. Nelly, Davy's (no.109) wife, 1887, aged 15
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
The negative has suffered considerable damage, but Foelsche photographed her again, two years later (no.111). She was one of Davy's three wives, two of whom were known to Europeans as Nelly (see also nos.113, 114)
111. Nelly, Davy's wife or widow, January 1889, aged 16
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
112. Ned, 1890, aged 27
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Possibly blind in the left eye. He is wearing one leather armband.
113. Nelly, second wife of Davy (no. 109), 1887, aged 29
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
114. Polly, third wife of Davy (no.109), 1887, aged 24 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
115. Djerimanga man, aged 45
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
This photograph provides a good example of the reason for Foelsche asking his subjects to rub powdered charcoal onto their faces, to reduce the reflection.
116. Nelly, wife of Ned (no. 112), 1890, aged 14 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
117. Djerimanga woman, 36 years old
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
One of Foelsche's earliest portraits, photographed in November 1877.
118. Manbambee, May 1879, 25 years old
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
119. Nelly, wife of Looriappa (Stephen), 1887, 19 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Looriappa is seated second from left, in the November 1877 group portrait of 11 Woolna men.
120. Djerimanga woman, 20 years old. Photographed during the late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
121. Djerimanga woman, November 1877, aged 29
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
122. Mary, second wife of Stephen, 1887, aged 20 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
123. Djerimanga woman, aged 30, photographed during late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
124. Djerimanga girl, aged 15, photographed during late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
125. Djerimanga woman, aged 17, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
126. Djerimanga girl, aged 11, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a grass-segment necklace and cane armband.
127. Djerimanga woman, aged 18, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
128. Djerimanga girl, aged 15, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
129. Minmirrah, May 1879, aged 27
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche photographed two individuals named 'Minmirrah', and it seems that this individual is misplaced here, and was actually from the Alligator Rivers region, not the Adelaide River. The pattern of cicatrices also reinforces her difference from Djerimanga women. For another portrait of Minmirrah, see no.163.
130. Djerimanga woman, 18 years, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche made a second portrait of her, probably only weeks apart (see no.132).
131. Djerimanga woman, 16 years, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
132. Djerimanga woman, 18 years, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche made a second portrait of the same individual, with longer hair (see no.130).
Minnegie or Mary River portraits
According to Foelsche, the 'Minnegie or Mary River' people occupied lands to the south of the Djerimanga, 'between the Adelaide River and the Mary River some seventy miles from the coast'. Foelsche made these portraits of Mary River people during visits which they made to Palmerston in the 1880s.
133. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 20
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a headband coated with white pipeclay, a feather head ornament, grass necklace, cane armbands and a netted bag (probably containing personal items) around his neck.
134. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 22
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He appears to have a metal spike tucked into the leather armband on his left arm. He is also wearing a headband, feather head ornament, nosepeg, grass necklace and armbands.
135. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 50
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a netted bag around his neck
136. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 47
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
137. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 25
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
138. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 19
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing grass necklace and cane armbands.
139. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 18
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
140. Minnegie or Mary River girl, 1880s, aged 15
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
141. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 24
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing head ornament of cockatoo feathers, grass necklace and armlets of cane and cloth.
142. Minnegie or Mary River girl, 1880s, aged 14
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
143. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 20
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
144. Minnegie or Mary River girl, 1880s, aged 16
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
145. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 20
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
146. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 18
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
11. Foelsche's Aboriginal portraits
Portraits of Alligator Rivers people
Paul Foelsche made portraits of about 40 people from the 'Alligator River tribes' during the late 1870s and 1880s. He defined their country as 'the country through which the East, South and West Alligator Rivers flow from the coast to some seventy miles inland.
The Alligator Rivers people began to visit Palmerston in about 1880, and this soon became an 'annual visitation'. During these visits spear-fights often occurred between Alligator and Larrakia men. In a mid-1887 encounter the Larrakia man Elbow Davy (nos.3, 6) was taken to Palmerston Hospital with a stone-headed spear wound, and several Alligator Rivers men were also speared.
147. Charly, January 1889, 47 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a canvas belt and a leather armlet, his face shows the effects of leprosy. Foelsche recorded his country as 'Coodoolagoo Alligator'.
148. Young Joey, January 1889, 27 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing leather and cane armlets. Foelsche recorded his country as 'Coonandar Alligator'.
149. Nannark, May 1879, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Among the first Alligator Rivers people to visit Palmerston. This photograph derives from an original small print; there is no surviving negative.
150. Nannaha, 48 years, probably photographed in 1879
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Probably photographed in 1879, when Foelsche produced his main anthropometric series.
151. Nelly, wife of Charly (no.147), January 1889, aged about 25 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Also from Coodoolagoo. Foelsche also made a portrait of this woman in 1883, when she was known to Europeans as Mary or Maggie (see no.176), and had not yet acquired her full set of body cicactrices.
152. Mary, wife of Young Joey (no. 148), January 1889, 19 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Also from 'Coonandar Alligator'.
153. Ballwallago, May 1879, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Photographed with Foelsche's anthropometric scale.
154. Ballwallago, May 1879, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
The second of two anthropometric studies.
155. Manningel, May 1879, 58 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
One of two anthropometric portraits (nos.155, 159).
156. Manningel, probably 1879, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Possibly a son or nephew of the older Manningel (no.155).
157. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a kangaroo teeth headband, nosepeg and armlets.
158. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 20 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
159. Manningel, May 1879, 58 years.
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Full-length anthropometric study. One of two anthropometric portraits (nos.155, 159).
160. Goahappa, probably 1879, aged 40
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
161. Alligator Rivers man, 1880s, aged 27
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing white-painted headband, grass necklace and cane armlets.
162. Alligator Rivers woman, probably 1880s, aged 33
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing chest bands, cane armlets and grass necklace.
The following group of Alligator Rivers women were among the first to visit Palmerston, accompanying their menfolk. Their nakedness was commented on by Palmerston residents who, by this time, had convinced Larrakia and Woolna women to wear clothes in the town. It is unlikely that these women had qualms about posing for Foelsche's camera.
163. Minmirrah, May 1879, 27 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche also documented this woman as of the Djerimanga group (see no. 129), but her decorative scarring matches those of other Alligator Rivers women. Foelsche made several portraits of this woman, varying his spelling of her name slightly (see no.165).
164. Mamanung, also known as Warri-imbee, May 1879, 26 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
165. Minmirrahma, May 1879, 27 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
166. Mooway, May 1879, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
167. Ballinger, May 1879, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
168. Mamanung, also known as Warri-imbee (also no. 164), May 1879, 26 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
169. Minmirraluna, May 1879, 25 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
170. Annaoka, May 1879, 34 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a necklace of glass trade beads.
171. Longandoo, probably May 1879, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
172. Alligator Rivers woman, wife of Bob Murray, a senior man, about 1880, aged 40
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
173. Alligator Rivers woman, wife of Charly (no.147), January 1889, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
From the Coodoolagoo locality.
174. Alligator Rivers woman, probably early 1880s, 24 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing cane and leather armbands, and a nosepeg.
175. Mary Ann, wife of the Wagait man, Barkley (no. 195) about 1880, 16 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
176. Maggie, also known as Mary, about 1881, aged 19 or 20
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche also photographed her in 1889 (see no. 151). By then she had married Charly (no.147) and had acquired more body scarring.
177. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, aged 19
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing cloth and cane armlets, grass necklace and string chestbands.
178. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
With cane armlets, grass necklace and string chestbands.
179. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing an embossed leather armlet on her right arm, and a cane armlet on her left, as well as a grass necklace.
180. Almarara, 1880s, 13 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
181. Alligator Rivers girl, 1880s, 15 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a leather strap as an armlet on her left arm, and seven cane armlet on her left arm.
182. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 19 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
183. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 17 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
184. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 40 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a grass necklace and armlets of cloth and strung beads.
185. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 36 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a grass necklace and armlets made of cane and of leather strap.
186. Alligator Rivers girl, 1880s, aged 16
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Roper River portraits
These portraits of Roper River people were made in 1889. In April 1889 Foelsche had visited the Roper River landing and photographed the S.S. Adelaide there, but it is unlikely that he made portraits on that trip. With the exception of his early Port Essington series, all his portraits were made in his own studio in Palmerston. By the late 1880s many different Aboriginal groups from outlying regions had visited Palmerston, out of curiosity, and to assess the Europeans for themselves. The small group is composed of a man and his three wives, together with the Roper River tracker, a Woolwonga man. Their European names suggest that they may have made Palmerston at least their temporary home.
187. Bob, 1889, aged 35
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
188. Charly, 1889, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Charly, a Woolwonga man who worked at the Roper River police station as a tracker.
189. Lady, wife of Bob (no. 187), 1889, aged 35
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
190. Nannigan, second wife of Bob (no. 187), 1889, aged 25
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
191. Judy, third wife of Bob (no.187), 1889, aged 26
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Portraits of Wagait men
Wagait country lies south-west across the bay from Palmerston, on Cox's Peninsula and southwards along the coast. Members of this group began visiting Palmerston during the late 1870s. This brought them into occasional conflict with the Larrakia, although the two groups supported each other in conflict against the Djerimanga. During 1882 for example, Wagait men joined the Larrakia in attacking the Djerimanga in Palmerston itself, before Foelsche intervened, convincing them to fight outside the town.
Foelsche took these portraits during early May 1879, when several Wagait men visited Palmerston for joint ceremonies with the Larrakia. The event was parodied by the newspaper. It culminated in an address by the Larrakia man, Davy, who made a 'powerful and impressive oration, urging upon the children of their tribes to follow after the traditions of their fathers, and to take no heed of the examples set by the larrikin whites.' (Northern Territory Times, 2 May 1879)
192. Nungadee, May 1879, 29 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a headband with feathered tassels, similar to those worn by Larrakia men.
193. Wagait man, May 1879, 25 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a white headband and feathered tassels.
194. Nagdy, May 1879, 50 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
195. Barkley, May 1879, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a bark belt, headband and feathered tassels, cane armbands. He was married to the Alligator Rivers woman, Mary Ann (no.175).
196. Dall-Dall, May 1879, 27 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
197. Wagait man, May 1879, 29 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche noted that his brother, Jacky, was a prisoner in the Palmerston gaol.
198. Wagait man, May 1879, 29 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He was blind in his right eye, here wearing a grass necklace.
199. Quook, May 1879, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
One of two Waggite men with this name.
200. Kannell, May 1879, 50 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche described this man as the Wagait chief.
201. Jaylanboo, May 1879, 40 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
202. Varcull, May 1879, 47 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
203. Karook, early 1880s, probably about 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
A full-length anthropometric study of Karook, decorated in ceremonial paint, perhaps taken during joint ceremonies with Larrakia people. He is wearing a leather belt, and has a stick of tobacco tucked into his right armlets. Foelsche made a portrait of the same man, spelling his name 'Quook', in May 1879 (no.206).
204. Trebuik, May 1879, 42 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He was probably blind in his left eye.
205. Mandab, May 1879, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
206. Quook, May 1879, 26 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a painted bark belt, grass necklace, and cane armbands. He has a clay pipe and a twist of tobacco tucked into his armbands, a habit which persisted, as his later, full-length portrait suggests (no.203). Another Wagait man photographed by Foelsche was also named Quook (no.199).
207. Charly, 1890, 24 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a feather head-dress, headband, nosepeg, and leather armlets.
Portraits of Port Essington people
The Iwaidja of Port Essington
Two of the first British settlements in northern Australia were in Iwaidja country, on the Cobourg Peninsula, north-east of Port Darwin. The second of these settlements, at Port Essington, lasted from 1838 to 1848. When Paul Foelsche visited there 30 years later, several Iwaidja people remembered the British and understood English.
Foelsche noted that many Iwaidja (and the related Unalla people to the east at Raffles Bay) also spoke the 'Malay language'. Malay trepang fishermen had been visiting this coast annually since at least the early eighteenth century, and several Iwaidja had accompanied these fishing fleets.
By November 1877, when Foelsche arrived with his camera, photographic tent and portable darkroom, the South Australians had already established a settlement at Port Essington. A small trepang station had been established near the beach. Further inland, Paul Foelsche's friend John Lewis had established the Cobourg Cattle Company, actually 'a buffalo shooting lodge formed to provide meat to the goldfields' (Reid 1990). Both of these buildings can be seen in Foelsche's photographs, which also show the Iwaidja camp nearby. Several Iwaidja men were employed in these concerns. With their openness towards foreigners on their shores, it is not surprising that the Iwaidja readily agreed to Paul Foelsche's photographic project.
The Unalla people lived to the east of the Iwaidja, at Raffles Bay, which had been a British settlement from 1827 to 1831. According to Foelsche, a smallpox epidemic introduced by Malay trepangers in 1866 had decimated this group, so that only seven men, twelve women, nine boys and two girls survived in 1881. Visiting in that year, Foelsche obtained a vocabulary of the Unalla language, one of the few surviving records. Several of the 'Port Essington' artefacts in this exhibition were also collected from this small Unalla group.
The number of 1880s portraits suggest that Foelsche established his photographic tent at Port Essington at least once during this decade. It is unlikely that this number of Port Essington people visited Palmerston.
208. Tim Finnigan, 1890, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
An Iwaidja man of Port Essington, employed by the customs inspector Alfred Searcy, who patrolled this coast to collect duty from Malay trepang fleets.
209. Marrabury, 1885, 17 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
With a clay pipe tucked into her cane armlets. Probably photographed in Palmerston.
210. Mallaguah, November 1877, 17 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a necklace of coloured glass trade beads, a leather belt, as well as a nosepeg, string apron and woven armlets.
211. Mingee-Mingee, November 1877, 18 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a necklace of glass trade beads, chest bands, armlets and a marrawite, or bark apron, suspended on a hair-string belt.
212. Iwaidja or Unalla woman, 1880s, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Her necklace appears to be composed of glass trade beads strung alternately with grass stems.
213. Iwaidja girl, 1880s, 14 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
214. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 60 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
215. Iwaidja or Unalla man, 1880s, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
216. Possibly Bob White, Iwaidja man, 1880s, 60 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
During the 1860s Bob White, or Nullamaloo, had assisted South Australian surveyors and navigators on the northern coast. An authoritative figure among the Iwaidja, he also dealt with the British at Port Essington during the 1840s, and was a key intermediary between his people and the Malay trepang fleets.
217. Mammeah, wife of Bob White, November 1877, 22 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing the marrawite, bark apron.
218. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
219. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 25 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He appears to have a knife tucked into his belt.
220. Iwaidja or Unalla woman, 1880s, 46 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
221. Iwaidja or Unalla man, 1880s, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
222. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 36 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a headband painted with white gypsum, armbands, nosepeg and leather belt.
223. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 32 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
It may have been Foelsche's intention to make anthropometric, standing portraits of Iwaidja people, but he probably understood that it was too much to expect these elderly men and women to maintain a fixed pose for the long exposures he required. They adopted their familiar sitting postures, on the canvas floor of his photographic tent.
224. Iwaidja man, November 1877
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
He does not appear on Foelsche's photographic list. Like the other Iwaidja men in this series, he is wearing the jangeenah apron of string tassels, fastened to a bark belt.
225. Hungry Jack, November 1877, 69 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
His European name suggests that he had become well known to Europeans at Port Essington.
226. Nalandoo, November 1877, 70 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
227. Berikar, November 1877, 60 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
228. Buggy-Buggy, November 1877, 65 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
229. Manuay, November 1877, 57 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing the marrawite, or bark apron, suspended on a hair-string belt, as well as string necklets and glass trade beads.
230. Nalimga, November 1877, 58 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
She has a hare-lip. Wearing the marrawite, or bark apron, suspended on a hair-string belt.
231. Armiarg, November 1877, 58 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing fibre necklets and the marrawite.
Foelsche asked each child in the following series to hold a stick or a spearthrower, a device intended both to animate the image and to provide a support, additional to that of his adjustable metal stand, which can be seen behind the figures.
232. Mamaregee, November 1877, 9 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing the marrawite bark belt.
233. Almarara, November 1877, 7 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a glass trade-bead necklace, and holding a spearthrower.
234. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, 6 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
235. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 7 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding a spearthrower.
236. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 8 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a necklace of glass trade beads and holding a spearthrower.
237. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, 3 years old
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing an armlet and chest bands of string.
238. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, five years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She moved slightly during the photograph, causing blurring.
239. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, five years old
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is holding a spearthrower.
The following series includes portraits which Foelsche submitted to the Paris Exhibition of 1878. He is also likely to have bartered for the artefacts which appear in several of the portraits, such as the baskets, and included these in the ethnographic collection sent to the Exhibition. These particular portraits come closest to the staged ethnographic portraits which J.W. Lindt produced during the 1870s, depicting Aborigines of the Clarence River district of New South Wales. Foelsche may have been inspired by Lindt's Album of Australian Aboriginals (1875) to produce these images.
240. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 36 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
This unnamed, pregnant woman is wearing a marrawite or bark apron, and is steadying herself with a digging stick. In front of her is a pandanus leaf basket, woolangannah, of the type used to collect honey.
241. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 49 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a marrawite or bark apron, and is steadying herself with a digging stick. The decorated woven basket suspended from her head is of the type used for collecting yams.
242. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 38 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is holding a digging stick and photographed in front of a pandanus leaf basket, woolangannah.
243. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 45 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
With digging stick and basket, wearing a marrawite or bark apron, and string necklets.
244. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 5 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding a spearthrower.
245. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 6 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding a spearthrower.
246. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 4 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing an armlet. Foelsche has painted out some detail above the boy's left shoulder.
247. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 5 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding two toy spears and wearing armlets and a necklace of glass trade beads.
The following series of portraits of Iwaidja men holding large decorated sword clubs was produced for the Paris Exhibition of 1878. The clubs served the dual purpose of steadying the subjects during the long exposures, and also provided an ethnographic context. Similar clubs, known to the Larrakia as metpahdinga, were used along the northern coast. As an example included in this exhibition suggests, Foelsche may have highlighted the designs of one club', used as a photographic 'prop'.
248. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Steadied by Foelsche's photographic stand, he leans slightly on the sword club, which is turned to display its traditional Iwaidja designs to best effect. The unnamed man is wearing the jangeenah tassel apron.
249. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 32 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a nosepeg and the jangeenah tassel apron, and holding the same decorated sword club as no. 247.
250. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 37 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
This man has pronounced Malay features, a reminder of the annual commerce between the Iwaidja and the Malay trepang fleets. According to Foelsche, all these Iwaidja people were fluent in the 'Malay language'. This man is holding a distinctive, wide-bladed sword club decorated with traditional designs.
251. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing elbow tassels, neckband, jangeenah tassel apron, and grasping the same decorated sword club as no.249.
252. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 50 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding decorated sword club and wearing the jangeenah tassel apron.
253. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 54 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding decorated sword club and wearing the jangeenah tassel apron.
254. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 48 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing the jangeenah tassel apron and holding a spearthrower.
255. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 21 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing the jangeenah tassel apron.
Port Essington portraits of women, November 1877
256. Alquralka, November 1877, 60 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
This woman is probably older than Foelsche's estimate. She is wearing a necklace of coloured glass trade beads. According to a note on Foelsche's original print, she had strong memories of the British settlement at Port Essington during the 1840s.
257. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 16 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing chest bands and a necklace of glass trade beads.
258. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 19 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a marrawite bark apron.
259. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, 14 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a rather large, decorated nose-peg (perhaps made of banksia flower core), a necklace of glass trade beads, string chest bands and necklet, and a cane armlet.