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As
Aboriginal people were dispossessed of their land, the making and wearing of cloaks became rarer. In addition, white missionaries and others were very efficient in the distribution of clothing and blankets to Aboriginal communities which, over a few generations, caused the tradition of possum skin
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The warm and weather-proof possum skin cloaks were also recognised and appreciated by
European settlers in the outback, where they became a highly regarded personal item. Alexander Harris describes one as follows from his personal knowledge in the early 1830s:
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They are also reasonably common in accounts of the gold rush period of the mid-19th century, but gradually became rarities, and restricted to observations of
Aboriginal people encountered on the margins of white settlement.
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As well as being a significant means of keeping warm in this often chilly part of
Australia, there was much importance around the making of the cloaks and their wearing. They were handed down through generations as
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made of the skins of o'possums which were very neatly sewn together and the outside of the skins were carved in a remarkably neat manner. They appear to be very inoffensive and cleanly in their persons.
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Harris, Alexander. The secrets of
Alexander Harris: a frank autobiography by the author of Settlers and Convicts, Angus + Robertson, Sydney (1961)
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John So, Lord Mayor of
Melbourne in a traditional Wurundjeri possum-skin cloak (Jiawei Shen, 2005 Archibald Prize Finalist)
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Ancient
Traditions, New Stories: Reviving the Aboriginal Possum Skin Cloak, Aviva Shen, Smithsonian.com, June 27, 2012
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National
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Reproduction of a possum skin cloak collected in 1872 from Lake Condah, National Museum of
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A group of Aboriginal men in possum skin cloaks and blankets in 1858 at Penshurst in Victoria
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Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788
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women, who set out in 1999 to relearn the lost craft of possum-skin cloak-making.
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in regional Victoria, also has possum skin cloaks on display; in the
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Clothing worn by Aboriginal people in the south-east of Australia
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Figures in possum-skin cloaks, 1898 by Aboriginal artist
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Smithsonian NMNH Department of Anthropology possum cloak
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Making an Aboriginal possum skin cloak, ABC Newcastle
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Cloaking the Aboriginal Past, NY Times, June 5, 2012
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1423:Native title
1377:Tent embassy
1360:Pintupi Nine
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1267:Bathurst War
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1237:Yininmadyemi
1222:Sandpainting
1217:Papunya Tula
1212:NATSIA Award
1200:Music groups
1122:Scarred tree
1116:
1092:Dugout canoe
782:Sacred sites
697:The Dreaming
639:Sportspeople
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405:. Retrieved
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379:. Retrieved
375:the original
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1418:Land rights
1321:King plates
1137:Sweet foods
1107:Food groups
1077:Bush tucker
817:Language(s)
752:NAIDOC Week
702:Enumeration
611:Individuals
576:Communities
407:27 February
381:30 November
306:Yorta Yorta
302:Gunditjmara
291:batha maruk
279:Gunaikurnai
64:of various
27:Gunditjmara
1506:Categories
1309:Prehistory
1232:Visual art
1185:Didgeridoo
1097:Fibrecraft
1072:Bush bread
938:Mass media
865:Placenames
742:Marn Grook
732:Kurdaitcha
715:Aboriginal
677:Corroboree
596:Victorians
586:Tasmanians
324:References
318:Buka cloak
283:Bairnsdale
281:nation in
68:species.
58:Buka cloak
1331:Black War
1326:Massacres
1165:Artefacts
1062:Boomerang
1054:Bushcraft
978:Sorry Day
792:Songlines
667:Astronomy
624:Musicians
619:Activists
219:June 2024
190:does not
139:Wiradjuri
95:heirlooms
1527:Quilting
1338:Missions
1190:Dreaming
1087:Coolamon
958:Politics
802:Tjurunga
429:Archived
312:See also
271:Canberra
143:Bathurst
133:west of
111:Victoria
80:kangaroo
42:Victoria
1522:Bedding
1370:Apology
1304:History
1247:History
1147:Woomera
923:AIATSIS
777:Seasons
727:Kinship
692:Deities
682:Country
659:Culture
649:Writers
563:Peoples
464:AIATSIS
211:removed
196:sources
151:Mantles
141:at the
101:History
1474:Treaty
1413:Health
1391:Issues
855:Palawa
711:Flags
707:Elders
438:
347:
145:camp:
135:Sydney
73:possum
66:possum
1484:Voice
1479:Truth
1408:Crime
1195:Music
1180:Dance
1142:Waddy
1127:Soaks
1112:Humpy
903:ATSIC
87:ochre
83:sinew
76:pelts
62:pelts
52:. In
1227:Vibe
1205:Rock
1157:Arts
1067:Buka
987:TSRA
772:Riji
672:Bora
436:ISBN
409:2013
383:2006
351:p 51
345:ISBN
194:any
192:cite
48:and
1542:Fur
269:in
205:by
1508::
461:.
399:.
339:,
293:.
56:,
44:,
547:e
540:t
533:v
411:.
385:.
232:)
226:(
221:)
217:(
213:.
199:.
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