Statement of values

This breastplate is of great historical significance for what it reveals about early Aboriginal/colonial Australian relations. Breastplates are a tangible record of relationships between Aboriginal people and colonists around mainland Australia from 1815 to the 1930s. They are significant as a record of colonial systems of governance and cross-cultural relations. Unlike other items given to Aboriginal people, such as blankets and clothing, breastplates are robust and, having been engraved for a particular person, unique. They are therefore of perhaps even greater significance as often the only tangible record left of a named Aboriginal person, their tribal group and traditional Country.

Breastplates document an Aboriginal person’s life and achievements and their conscious decision to reconcile and accommodate a rapidly changing world. Breastplates provoke mixed reactions: they are often aesthetically pleasing, but as evidence of how European values undermined Aboriginal social structures, they can be regarded as symbols (even tools) of dispossession and oppression. Alternatively, native title claims and a resurgence of interest in Aboriginal culture from the 1980s onwards have added to the significance of breastplates as research tools and evidence of ongoing connections to land.