National Maritime Museum acquires
historical treasures from Cook voyage
The Australian National Maritime Museum has acquired three outstanding South Seas artefacts
that make a direct link with James Cook and his 1770s exploration of the Pacific.
The pieces – two carved wooden clubs and a rounded hand club carved from whalebone – were
collected from Polynesian communities on the navigator’s second voyage (1772-75).
Their cultural significance is enhanced by their close association with Omai who joined this
expedition at Huahine (Society Islands) and became the first Polynesian to be taken to England.
Omai (pronounced My) is now recognised as the most famous South Sea Islander of the great age
of exploration. Unlike Tupai who joined Cook’s Endeavour expedition but died at Batavia (Jakarta),
Omai reached his destination on the opposite side of the world.
He captivated the upper levels of London society and had his portrait painted by some of
England’s most celebrated artists before he returned to Huahine on Cook’s third expedition in
1777.
There were two ships on Cook’s second expedition: HMS Resolution, commanded by Cook, and
HMS Adventure, commanded by Tobias Furneaux. Omai travelled on the Adventure and became
Furneaux’s friend.
The Polynesian accompanied Cook and Furneaux when they landed at Tongatapu (Tonga) in
October 1773. It was here the visitors received the two wooden clubs as gifts from the islanders.
Furneaux received the whalebone hand club when the expedition visited Queens Charlotte Sound,
New Zealand, in December the same year.
Soon after arriving in England Furneaux took Omai to his home at Swilly, near Plymouth, to meet
his family. It was here he also took his South Seas treasures, and the three clubs remained with his
family in that house until the property was sold in 1920.
The three artefacts, now widely known as Omai Relics, remained in the Furneaux family collection
until they were sold in 1986.
The Australian National Maritime Museum has purchased the three clubs from a private vendor
for $622,750. It was assisted with funding of $100,000 from the Australian Government’s
National Cultural Heritage Account.
“The vendor wanted to ensure that the three pieces remain together as an intact collection,” the
museum director, Mary-Louise Williams, said today. “We are delighted to ensure they stay
together and that the collection remains in Australia for everyone to see.”
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Ms Williams said very few objects of such historical significance and unquestionable provenance
from the European exploration of the Pacific remain in private ownership.
The three pieces are themselves rare and beautiful, but they are even more significant as
ethnographic objects created before there was any thought to satisfy European taste or appeal to
a European ‘souvenir’ market.
The two Tongan clubs, 1150 mm long in wood, are flared in shape. Both have complex
geometrical patterns carved along their length. The Maori hand club, carved from whalebone, is
430 mm long without any decorative features. All three pieces are in exceptionally good
condition.
The buying price is in line with values established in comparable museum purchases in recent
years, Ms Williams said today.
These new acquisitions will add depth to the Australian National Maritime Museum’s collections
relating to Cook, the European exploration of the Pacific and the interaction between Europeans
and the Indigenous people of Australia and the Pacific islands.
“We are focused on James Cook and his expeditions,” she said. “We have the magnificent replica
of HM Bark Endeavour which is open here as a floating museum for a large part of the time but
also voyages regularly to other ports on the Australian coast.
“We have been actively involved in the search for remains of the original Endeavour on the floor of
Newport Harbour in Rhode Island USA, and we have significant historical objects – like the
sternpost of HMS Resolution and other related material – in our National Maritime Collection.”
Ms Williams said the Omai Relics will go on display at the museum in time for the busy Christmas
–
New Year holiday season.
The National Maritime Museum, at Darling Harbour, Sydney, is open daily, 9.30 am to 5 pm. For
18 November 2009
Media information, images, interviews - Bill Richards 0418 403 472
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