Club (pakipaki)

Production date
Pre 1790
Country
Australia
State/Province
Queensland
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Object detail

Description
Club (probably Tongan) with a round shaft and paddle-shaped blade. Features incised patterns, with no signs of use on the shaft, and there is no butt lug but two holes (converging at right angles) probably accomodated a twine wrist cord.
The entire club surface is covered in incised decoration consisting of herring bone, banded zigzag and vertical basketry. It features no schematized anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figures.
Classification
ARCHAEOLOGY Maritime Archaeology
INDIGENOUS CULTURES Polynesian
Maker
Production date
Pre 1790
Production place
Measurements
Dimensions: L 970 x W 76 x Dia. 30 mm
Weight: 1022 g
Media/Materials description
Wood (Casuarina equisitifolia)
History and use
This club was recovered from HMS Pandora, a naval vessel sent from England in 1790 in pursuit of the HMS Bounty and its mutineers. Following navigation in the South Pacific, Pandora wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef in 1791 on its return voyage.

The Pandora shipwreck was discovered in 1977, and Queensland Museum conducted archaeological expeditions between 1983 and 1999 recovering many artefacts.

The club was collected by Pandora's officers and crew, among over 500 other cultural artefacts and natural history specimens.
Registration number
MA4809

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