The 1836 Lewis Collection and the Torres Strait Turtle-Shell Mask of Kulka

ABSTRACT

The fire that engulfed Sydney's Garden Palace building in 1882 also destroyed much of the ethnological collection of the Australian Museum. Among the objects presumed lost were items from the Lewis Collection, obtained in the Torres Strait in 1836. This collection constituted the museum's entire holdings from the region at that time and the earliest collection of Torres Strait objects held by any institution. This paper aims to bring renewed focus to the Lewis Collection by drawing attention to several largely forgotten items that had been transferred to Denmark prior to the fire, most notably a large turtle-shell mask currently on display at Copenhagen's Nationalmuseet. Expanding on a cryptic observation by Donald Fraser (1978), the argument is presented here that the mask is a surviving object from the Lewis Collection that originated from Aureed Island in central Torres Strait. It is a significant example of a material tradition unique to the region and is imbued with considerable ethnographic and historical importance.