Lot 92
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL SPEARTHROWER, WOOMERA
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Ancient, African & Oceanic Art and Natural History
Auction: 08 July 2026 at 14:00 BST
Description
carved wood with gum handle and tooth hook attached with gum; inscribed on the front with ‘Woomera or mera [sp] used in throwing spear by natives of W. Australia got by H. M. Cadell at Albany W. A 1895’
Dimensions
60cm long
Provenance
Henry Moubray Cadell (1860–1934), acquired Albany, Western Australia in 1895, thence by family decent
Footnote
Henry Moubry Cadell (1860-1934) was a renowned Scottish geologist and geographer. Following his career in the Geological Survey he spent the years between 1889 and 1921 travelling throughout Norway (1889), USA (1891), Switzerland (1894), Australia and New Zealand (1895-1896), Russia (1897), India and Burma (1899), Egypt (1902-1903), Mexico (1906), Bavaria (1909), Canada and Alaska (1913), England (1915) and Spitzbergen (1920-1921). During this time, he formed his extensive and eclectic collection that would remain with his family through the next century, as well as documenting the geographical and geological landscape that later became the subject of his lectures and publications. During his lifetime he wrote and published 'The Geology and Scenery of Sutherland' (1896), 'The Story of the Forth' (1913) and 'The Rocks of West Lothian' (1925); he was also a founding member and served as both chairman and president of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society; and in 1932 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of Edinburgh shortly before his death in 1934.