Dubai’s Emirates transports Aboriginal artefact home to Tasmania after it spent 230 years abroad

Dubai’s Emirates transports Aboriginal artefact home to Tasmania after it spent 230 years abroad

Records of the water carrier's existence in a private collection date to the 1820s when it was illustrated in a catalogue

By Web Desk Published: Tue 21 Feb 2023, 2:56 PM

A kelp water carrier – or rikawa, as it is known to Palawa, Tasmanian Aboriginal people – has returned to its home after 230 years overseas. Having been identified in 2019 in at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris, the rikawa, on loan for two years, is now on display in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG)’s new exhibition, taypani milaythina-tu: Return to Country.

The rikawa was made in the late 18th century from bull kelp, wooden skewers and plant fibre ties. These vessels were used by Palawa people to hold and carry water, a life-sustaining resource. This item was collected from near Recherche Bay in 1792 by the expedition party of Bruni d’Entrecasteaux. Records of its existence in a private collection date to the 1820s when it was illustrated in a catalogue. After that it entered the French public collections, was displayed in the Louvre and then progressively mislabelled over the years, incorrectly describing its materials and country of origin, before ending up misplaced in various