Aboriginal shell necklaces

Shell necklace making is one of the few surviving traditional Aboriginal crafts in Tasmania. There are only a handful of Aboriginal women who are still actively making the necklaces. Their work can be seen on display in a special gallery in the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Inveresk in Launceston, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart, the Tiagarra Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Devonport and the Maritime Museum of Tasmania in Hobart. The Devonport Art Gallery also has a necklace in its collection that it will show you by appointment.

The impact of European colonisation in Tasmania was devastating for Aboriginal people. Violent skirmishes and often brutal killing characterised the early relationship between the invaders and the Indigenous people of Tasmania.

Eventually the majority of surviving Aboriginal people were forcibly relocated to the Furneaux group of islands off the North East coast of Tasmania, with most settling on Cape Barren and Flinders Island. European diseases spread and the original population of Aboriginal people (estimated to be several thousand) was almost wiped out in Tasmania in less than 100 years.

The shells are extremely precious, particularly the mother-of-pearl mareener shells that are now in short supply. They can only be collected at certain times during the year. It can take months or even years of work to produce one necklace, as it is a painstaking job to collect, clean and string the shells. Each maker has her own preferred way of stringing the shells in unique combinations and patterns.

The necklaces are of national significance to the Indigenous art of Australia and can also be seen on display at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, and the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

A growing interest in the necklaces has had some negative repercussions. There are recent reports that people with no cultural connection to the traditional craft are selling necklaces to an unsuspecting tourist market as authentic.

Here you can see and hear the Aboriginal necklace makers talk about their work and techniques. You can also take a virtual tour of some of the Tasmanian museums and galleries where their work is on display.