apron

This apron was obtained somewhere among the Admiralty Islands. It is made of drilled shell discs (“shell-money”), a few glass trade beads, drilled coconut shell discs, vegetable fibre, imported red cloth, coix or Job’s tears seeds, and parrot feathers. In later times, glass trade beads almost completely replaced the shell beads that were so laborious to make. Worn by women at dances and other festivals, these aprons were also part of a bride’s wedding dress. Married women wore them after about 15 to 20 years of married life when their husbands hosted a special feast to celebrate their economic success. Fine drilled shell beads serve as currency in many parts of Melanesia and by wearing these aprons the woman is displaying part of the wealth of her family. This apron was presented to Auckland Museum by Mr. James Richard Adams Wilkes in 1928. Born in Wairoa about 1874, Wilkes was an accomplished amateur photographer who learnt Maori and is said to have been the first person to take a bicycle through the Urewera, in the 1890s. In 1914 he went to New Guinea and worked as a government Patrol Officer based at Samarai. His photographs show that he also travelled extensively along the Sepik River, on the north coast and among the islands to the north of the New Guinea mainland.