A new era begins online for the OAS Journal
After some years in the making, the Oceanic Art Society website is now up and running. This will change the nature of the organisation. While to date the primary mode …
Volume 21
Unpacked: The Reverend Fellows collection of Trobriands art
Public lecture by Crispin Howarth: Held at the National Gallery of Australia is a little known, rarely shown but very significant collection of Massim Art. Amassed in the late 19th …
Behind the lens: Richard Aldridge and his Oceanic art series of short documentaries
Richard Aldridge has produced a series of short documentaries on the art and culture of Papua New Guinea. These can be viewed on Youtube (see below for web address). In …
Jude Philp on the Macleay Museum’s Pacific collections
Lecture to Oceanic Art Society, Sydney, 14 September 2016. Report by Jude Philp In 1875 Maino of Mowatta welcomed William John Macleay’s Chevert expedition party to his village, and introduced …
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor – Part V
By Barry Craig. Continued from OAS Journal Vol.21 No.3. In this issue of the OAS Journal, I provide a short biography and a sample of the collections of: Walter Mansell …
Parcours subjective
By Krisztina Turza, TurzaArt Tribal Gallery A short and subjective review of this year’s Parcours des Mondes. Short, because it will only focus on the art items via the many …
War trophies or curios?
By Barry Craig, Ron Vanderwal and Christine Winter, Museum Victoria, Melbourne, 281 pp. Review by Peter McCabe “Me been talk with you now, now you give three good feller cheers …
Andrew Moutu, Director, National Museum and Art Gallery of Papua New Guinea – Part II
Interview with Jim Elmslie, at the NGA Myth + Magic Exhibition, Canberra, August 7 2015 JE: How did you get to Cambridge? AM: I had some good mentors. When I …
No End to the Splendid Diversity of Oceanic Art
However much Oceanic art one sees it will never be the case that there is not something new to discover. The vast array of Oceanic art that has graced this …
Centuries 19 to 21. The Macleay Museum’s Pacific collections
At what date the Macleay family started collecting objects made by peoples from the Pacific islands is not known. But living in Sydney from the 1830s certainly gave them opportunity …
Mark Blackburn on Understanding Polynesian Art
Lecture to Oceanic Art Society, Sydney, 20 June 2016. Report by Robin Hodgson On Monday 20 June 2016, in the Annexe of the Australian Museum, our visiting lecturer, Mark Blackburn …
Slit Gongs of the Sepik and Madang Provinces
By Barry Craig, South Australian Museum I have prepared a paper from a dataset of a large number of slit gongs of the Sepik and lower Ramu region, documented during …
Tribal Art Fair Report
By Robin Hodgson The OAS Tribal Art Fair in Sydney this year on Saturday 23 July was, according to the organisers: ”A good, successful day… Probably the best presentation to …
La-Sisi – Malangan Canoe
By Harold Gallasch and Neil McLeod. Melbourne Publishing Group, 2012. 60 pages with colour illustrations. Review by Jim Elmslie This lavishly illustrated book by OAS members, Harold Gallasch and Neil …
Andrew Moutu, Director, National Museum & Art Gallery of Papua New Guinea – Part I
Interview with Jim Elmslie, at the NGA Myth + Magic Exhibition, Canberra, August 7 2015 JE – Andrew, you have come a long way from a village in Dagua, and Wewak, …
Mystery Object
By Barry Craig This mystery object has been donated to the South Australian Museum. The donor obtained it at a bric-a-brac shop so knew nothing about its provenance. It is …
Knowledge Grows Through the Work of a Few
In this edition of the OAS Journal we read the story of George William Mostyn, the third in Barry Craig’s series of short biographies on early collectors for the South …
A mystery resolved
The world is becoming ever smaller, driven mostly by the increasing interconnectivity provided by the internet. People anywhere can research and access the most obscure and idiosyncratic alleyways of human …
OAS Journal Goes Online
It is with great satisfaction that we can announce that the OAS Journal is finally to join its peers in cyberspace. The OAS Committee, after protracted discussion, has decided to …
Cultural Treasures of the Lower Sepik River, PNG
By Chris Boylan The National Cultural (Preservation) Act of 1965 was the strongest comprehensive legislation protecting the cultural heritage of Papua New Guinea ever enacted. In the years that followed, …
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor – Part III
Hunter was born in Adelaide in 1871 and served three years in the South Australian Infantry during the Boer War (1899-1902). He married in 1905 and was an accountant at …