Australasian parrying shied

[kahnjar1]

Hi Tim,
Not Australasian in my opinion. The carving design is certainly not of the Maori style, and does not look Aboriginal to me either. Perhaps one of our Aussie members can confirm that.
Regards Stuart

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Hi Tim,
Not Australasian in my opinion. The carving design is certainly not of the Maori style, and does not look Aboriginal to me either. Perhaps one of our Aussie members can confirm that.
Regards Stuart

i am a new zelanader by birth and spent most of my life in the northen territory , in australia, ive owned many of these and seen many, and seen the black fellas using some of these items still, mostly nullah nullahs , shovel nosed spears and fishing spears.. the use of these sheilds is pretty much dead.. ..

as to the maori as far as i know ,, they never use any form of sheild, or ,, body protection for that matter. due to the fact it was considered cowardly,, also they did not normaly use projectile weaposn during combat,,

due to this most maori wepaons were short agile weapons, used for chopping and thrusting,,

for the seige of fortified villages they sued long ,, 15 -20 foot spears and such,, but not in general ballte,, .. darts and throwing spears were also used. infrequently, but were not considered "brave"

sheilds... were not used.


the paring sheaild is a representation of a australian native sheild,, the wood varnish and type of decoration implys it is for tourist sale and maybe not made natively. but then could be also

[Tim Simmons]

I have just seen some tourist stuff today and I now think the shield is indeed tourist rubbish. It is going to happen to all collectors from time to time.

[katana]

Hi Ausjuluis,
very interesting and informative , thanks

David

[ausjulius]

not a problem,, .
oh and if anyonemaybe posts the topic of maori wepaons.....
well, the learned the gun and axe very quickly,
i think geunine use of the was dead in the 1880s, and tribal war was over by 1890 ,
now theyer as modern as anyone on the street in london . or other large city.
becuase of this quick change alot of their itmes dissapeared with the introduction of guns , such a the laces and also oddly many musical instrements and traps and types of furnature.
as they soon found steel tools, and guns for hunting and war,,
so actualy many things stopped to be made in the 1800s even.. they adapted rather quickly.,

abborigines in australia didnt as they were quite differenand so in the 1960s and 50s there was still "wild" groups, using stone tools, and not having direct contact with the outside world