Lot 48
BOOMERANG
KIMBERLEY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Auction: 26 November 2025 at 14:00 GMT
Description
carved wood and pigment, of typical form, adorned with engraving, red and white pigment, raised on a bespoke mount
Dimensions
61.5cm long
Provenance
The present boomerang is said to have been presented to Mr Carl Bowdewins of the Forrest River Mission by Chief King Peter in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The carvings are believed to symbolise the events of the Forrest River Massacre (also known as the Oombulgurri Massacre), a tragic episode in 1926 in which several Aboriginal people from the region were killed by police and civilians following the death of a pastoralist. A subsequent Royal Commission (1927) found evidence that at least eleven Aboriginal men and women were murdered and their remains destroyed.
The area surrounding the Forrest River Mission was home to a number of Aboriginal families whose histories are partially preserved in mission and government archives. One such record refers to a “King Peter”, described as King David (Mudjuwanba)’s eldest son and a member of the Evans family. He is noted as having captained the local cricket team in 1929. It is possible that this individual is the same “Peter” who presented the boomerang to Mr Bowdewins.