Paul Foelsche was the Northern Territory's first police inspector, commanding its police force from 1870 to 1904. Foelsche not only policed the Top End – he also recorded it, in meticulous detail. His remarkable landscape and portrait photographs are windows onto the European-Aboriginal frontier of the late 19th century.
Paul Foelsche was appointed as the Northern Territory's first police inspector in late 1869. His first brief was to protect the tiny outpost of Port Darwin against the risk of Aboriginal attack. As the Territory's senior police official, he kept order for the next 34 years as South Australia's colonists expanded across the lands of the Larrakia, Djerimanga, Iwaidja and other Aboriginal groups.
Foelsche distributed his photographs as widely as possible, but it is unlikely that many of his Aboriginal subjects ever saw their own images. One aim of this exhibition is to restore this rich record of land and people to the descendants of those Larrakia, Djerimanga, and Iwaidja people whom Foelsche photographed more than a century ago. These portraits have never been shown in their entirety, and have never been seen in their original social groupings.
The photographs in this exhibition are new prints, created digitally from Foelsche's original glass negatives or albumen prints. These new prints are at least twice the size of Foelsche's originals. They reveal details which his own camera captured, but which he was unable to reproduce, except in large images projected with lantern slides.
Paul Foelsche possessed a remarkable gift for composing a scene, and for revealing the humanity of those in his portraits. His photographic record has greatly enriched our cultural heritage.
There are ten categories of information to browse online:
- The Life of Paul Foelsche, 1831-1914
- Foelsche's Darwin
- Policing the Frontier
- Images of Industry and Progress: Promoting the Territory
- Entering the Landscape: Foeslche as Pictorial Photographer
- Crocodiles and River Cruises: The Kintore-Stirling Expedition of 1891
- Foelsche the Naturalist
- Foelsche the Photographer
- Foelsche the Anthropologist
- Foelsche's Aboriginal Portraits
| Credits: |
|---|
| This website reproduces the structure of the South Australian Museum's travelling exhibition, The Policeman's Eye: Paul Foelsche'a Frontier Photography. |
| Text: |
| Philip Jones |
| Data Entry and Reconfiguration: |
| Sanna Maria Röppänen |
| Artefact Photographs, Document Scans: |
| Steve Bowley, image adjustment and preparation Tim Smith, original 600dpi scans of glass negatives |
| Digital Design and Assistance: |
| Angela Makris |
| Exhibition Curation: |
| Philip Jones, Tim Smith |
| Exhibition Design: |
| David Kerr, Ian Maidment |
| Digital Design and Assistance: |
| Anah Guy, Sara White, Sanna Maria Röppänen |
I — The Life of Paul Foelsche, 1831-1914
Paul Foelsche was one of many nineteenth-century German immigrants to South Australia who made lasting contributions to Australian culture. His skill as a photographer defines him today, but he spent his working life as a police officer on the Australian frontier.
From Hamburg to Adelaide
click to enlarge
Paul Foelsche was born on 30 March 1831 in the village of Moorburg on the south bank of the River Elbe, close to the city of Hamburg. He was christened in the village's ancient Lutheran church, receiving the family names of Paul Hinrich Matthias Fölsche.
Paul's mother died when he was very young, but his father remarried at the end of 1832. This second marriage produced six younger brothers and sisters for Paul.
Paul's father and grandfather were rope-makers for ships at the nearby port of Hamburg. This also may have been Paul's destined profession, but little is known of his education or early working life. In 1848, as a 17 year old, he joined the Prussian Hussar cavalry fighting the Danish over the disputed Schleswig-Holstein principalities, north of the River Elbe. During the next few years he acquired practical skills as a horseman, gunsmith and, it seems, as a dentist.
In mid-1854 Paul Foelsche joined a great exodus of emigrants from Germany. Some were victims of religious or political persecution. Others, like Foelsche himself, sought better economic opportunities. By the mid-1850s the Australian colonies had become an attractive destination.
Paul Foelsche booked a single passage for Adelaide, embarking from Hamburg aboard the 'Reiherstieg' on 22 June 1854. After a voyage of 127 days he and 149 other German passengers landed at Port Adelaide on 26 October. He was 23 years old. Like many other emigrants, it seems that his first destination was the Victorian goldfields.
Trooper Foelsche at Strathalbyn
Paul and Charlotte Foelsche's daughters Rosie Emma and Mary Jane. Photographed by Paul Foelsche in Darwin, 1874.
Paul and Charlotte Foelsche's daughters Rosie Emma and Mary Jane. Photographed by Paul Foelsche in Darwin, 1874.
In November 1856, after trying his luck on the Victorian goldfields, Paul Foelsche enlisted in the South Australian Mounted Police. A few months later he was posted to the country town of Strathalbyn, 60 kilometres south-east of Adelaide, where he helped to establish its first police station.
Trooper Foelsche developed a reputation for efficiency. Selected for detective work in several cases of robbery and murder, he soon rose through the ranks. He was promoted to Corporal in 1867.
Despite opposition from his superiors, who preferred Mounted Police troopers to remain single, Foelsche married in January 1860.
His bride was Charlotte Smith, 20 year-old daughter of a Strathalbyn carpenter. With this marriage Foelsche left the Lutheranism of his upbringing and joined Charlotte's Wesleyan Methodist church. Daughters Rosie Emma and Mary Jane were born in 1860 and 1863.
Foelsche's police duties brought him into contact with the Aboriginal people of the Strathalbyn district and nearby Lake Alexandrina. Not all these encounters were official. Foelsche learnt to throw the reed spear and the returning boomerang. He wrote: 'I could never make it describe a circle in the air and return to me, in which art my principal tutor Jacky Hooper … was an adept'.
By 1869 Foelsche was 38 years old, a pillar of Strathalbyn society. His gunsmith and dentistry skills were in demand from locals, and he had begun experimenting with photography. Although his life seemed settled, he had become the ideal candidate for South Australia's
Inspector Foelsche in Darwin
Paul Foelsche at the Strathalbyn police station shortly before his departure for the Northern Territory, 1865. Northern Territory Times.
In late November 1869, Foelsche was informed of his promotion to Sub-Inspector and his immediate posting to the fledgling settlement of Port Darwin. He sailed aboard the 'Kohinoor' just three weeks later, on 15 December. His wife and two daughters joined him a year later.
Initially, Foelsche commanded five police troopers. Their immediate mission was to protect the South Australian settlers as they built the new town of Palmerston on land surveyed by George Goyder. During May 1869 a survey draftsman had been speared in revenge for the shooting of two Aboriginal men. Further violence was anticipated, and when it came Foelsche was accused, more than once, of a heavy-handed response.
With the discovery of gold in the early 1870s, the work of the Northern Territory police became more complex, as Chinese miners, labourers and merchants began to outnumber the European population. Foelsche was promoted to Inspector, with authority over an expanding police force and a network of towns and settlements.
After 47 years of service Foelsche retired from the police force in 1904. Charlotte Foelsche had died in 1899, but their two daughters had married and had young families. Foelsche's last photographs were of these family gatherings and of his own back garden, where he maintained a small plant nursery.
In 1911 control over the Northern Territory passed to the Commonwealth, and Palmerston was renamed Darwin. Paul Foelsche died three years later in January 1914, a few months before war was declared between Britain and the country of his birth.
II — Foelsche's Darwin
Foelsche's earliest Territory photographs were taken in Port Darwin and Palmerston. His is a unique record. Today, after three cyclones, World War Two bombing and more than a century's development, Foelsche's Darwin has all but vanished…
When Paul Foelsche arrived at Port Darwin in January 1870, the township had begun to expand from Goyder's survey camp, at the base of Fort Hill, to the plateau above. As the new streetscapes took shape, Foelsche began making his record of the town.
In photographing early Darwin, Foelsche raised his tripod on a platform, so that his eye met a building's roofline, much like a portrait. He also positioned people in his photographs, a little like characters in a play.
Photographs of Darwin
1. Palmerston from Fort Hill, March 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
Foelsche took this photograph during an early morning in March 1887, from the top of Fort Hill. The panoramic view to the north takes in the glassy waters of Port Darwin harbour, with the bowsprit of the four-masted barque Euphrates just visible at right.
The original Fort Darwin settlement of 1869-70 occupied the gully at the lower left, before expanding onto the plateau above into the town of Palmerston. The long government workshop buildings were converted from their original role as stables for G.W. Goyder's survey teams. The house close to the shore was the Senior Surveyor's residence.
The viewer's eye is drawn to the elaborate Moorish-style mansion built by the architect J.G. Knight in 1884, overlooking the harbour. The town of Palmerston is situated on the plateau above. The gabled roof of the imposing Government Residence is visible at left, and a line of government buildings, including the British-Australian Telegraph offices, completes the skyline.
2. The Commercial Hotel, Mitchell St, February 1874
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
The newly-built Commercial Hotel on Mitchell Street, photographed in February 1874. It was one of Darwin's first hotels, and offered 'good drinks of all descriptions'.
Foelsche's photograph records the transient forms of the frontier town's bush architecture. During the 1880s most wooden, bark-roofed buildings of this sort were replaced by stone and iron structures.
The stump in the right foreground suggests that a tree was felled to clear the view for this photograph, which takes in the wider streetscape and the hotel's outbuildings.
3. View of Mitchell Street to south-east, 8 June 1875
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's photograph of this early Palmerston streetscape features the newly erected telegraph line which connected the small township 2,000 miles south to Adelaide, and 11,000 miles north to London.
Like many of Foelsche's streetscapes, this photograph has been taken from a slight elevation, probably from a portable platform, about 1.2 metres high, which Foelsche constructed for the purpose.
A closer examination of this photograph reveals more detail: the waggoner about to drive off from the vacant block, men standing outside their businesses on Mitchell Street, and the roots at the base of the first telegraph pole, which is actually a tree.
4. Skelton's Stores, Bennett Street, 11 June 1875
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche photographed Skelton's Stores on Bennett Street on 11 June 1875. One of a series of photographs of Palmerston businesses, Foelsche probably submitted this photograph to the 1876 Philadelphia International Exhibitions. It helped to illustrate the commercial potential of the Northern Territory and its new township.
Skelton's business was licensed to sell wine and spirits as well as a wide range of hardware, some of which can be seen on the verandah. Two years later the proprietor, Joseph Skelton, became the publisher of the town's first newspaper, the Northern Territory Times.
5. Entrance to first Government Gardens, 1876
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original albumen print, State Library of South Australia.
The entrance to the 'Government Gardens', an experimental nursery and plantation at Fannie Bay, run by the botanist Dr Maurice Holtze from 1878 to 1891. Foelsche's photograph was an important inclusion in International Exhibitions, helping to demonstrate the South Australian government's commitment to agriculture in the tropical north.
Seventeen Chinese gardeners were employed under Maurice Holtze and assisted in introducing several exotic plants. Holtze grew trial crops of coffee, eight varieties of sugar cane, tobacco, arrowroot, rice, peanuts, tea and cotton. With so many experienced gardeners to tend them, most crops flourished in the Gardens, but generally failed under ordinary conditions.
A fellow German, Holtze probably inspired Foelsche's interest in botanical collecting and introduced him to Australia's foremost botanist, Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens.
6. The Chinese Gardens and Palmerston Hospital, 1878
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
This image is one of two resulting from an official request in September 1878 for Foelsche to photograph the newly-built Palmerston Hospital.
The view from the south takes in the Chinese vegetable gardens, channel-irrigated from Peel's Well, Chinese dwellings on the foreshore, and the Hospital itself, sited on the East Point headland, at a safe distance from the town for infectious cases.
In the far distance, on the slope in front of the Hospital, we can just discern the wooden platform which Foelsche used to take the closer view of the Hospital.
7. View of Mitchell Street, June 1879
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
A view of Mitchell Street, Palmerston, in June 1879. Foelsche's main object here was to record the streetscape, from Vaiben L. Solomon's galvanised-iron auction house and agency at left to the newly completed police station at right. In composing this scene, Foelsche needed to eliminate all moving figures, to prevent blurring, and this left him with an empty foreground. He fiilled it with his police spring-cart, and placed a man in tropical garb next to it, holding a broom.
Several observers stand in front of the buildings, apparently also positioned there by Foelsche. Those at Solomon's store include the black-bearded proprietor and one of Foelsche's police troopers. One of the town's new Chinese residents stands at left.
8. P.R. Allen & Co's store, June 1883
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
P.R. Allen's general store in Mitchell Street, June 1883. Allen was one of the original Palmerston merchants, commencing business in a tent on the Esplanade in 1875.
Among other items, the shop windows display tins of cocoa and Colman's mustard. The two Aboriginal men may have been employed to make deliveries for the store, using the handcart and trolley, but here their main role was to add a human dimension to the photograph, and to draw the viewer's eye to the shop itself.
One of P.R. Allen's employees, William Barnes, later assisted Foelsche with his photographic printing.
9. Officers' quarters, The Camp, June 1883
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
This June 1883 view of the Government Residence overlooking Palmerston, and the officers' quarters below it, is a reminder of the extent to which this small frontier township was regulated by colonial authority.
The photograph provides a fine example of Foelsche's meticulous composition. He has placed the human figures and the carriage to best effect, and his lines of perspective converge at top and bottom. The large bucket was probably used in dredging or clearing the harbour.
10. View of Camp, Knight's house in foreground, August 1885
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's view of the original site of the Fort Darwin survey camp, photographed during August 1885.
The Government Residence is visible at upper right, but a Moorish-style mansion dominates the scene. Known as 'Knight's Folly' or 'The Mud Hut', it was designed and owned by J.G. Knight. He had been the architect of Melbourne's Parliament House and designed several early public buildings in Darwin. Built in 1884, partly of concrete, it survived two cyclones but was destroyed by fire in 1933.
Foelsche has drawn the viewer's eye to the horizon, where the Royal Navy's survey vessel, HMS Myrmidon, lies at anchor. In 1888 Foelsche assisted William Saville Kent, the naturalist aboard this survey ship, with his marine survey of the Port Darwin coast.
11. Palmerston Hospital, September 1878
Digital print from 600dpi scans of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
The newly constructed Palmerston Hospital, showing the ward built with a donation from Adelaide philanthropist Louisa Da Costa. Foelsche photographed the hospital during September 1878, on her behalf, using a specially constructed platform for his tripod.
12. The Commercial Bank of Australia, March 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scans of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
The Commercial Bank of Australia building on the corner of Bennett and Smith Streets, designed by architect J.G. Knight. The building was photographed by Foelsche in March 1887. Its surviving façade houses the Paspaley Pearl company.
13. The Palmerston Town Hall, Smith Street, March 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scans of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
The Palmerston Town Hall on Smith Street, completed in 1883 and photographed by Foelsche in March 1887. The building was destroyed by Japanese bombs in 1942, but the ruins have been preserved.
14. The Northern Territory Times newspaper office and J.T. Bull's general store, October 1885
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
The Northern Territory Times newspaper office and J.T. Bull's general store, photographed by Foelsche in October 1885. J.T. Bull is the tall man standing in the doorway.
15. The Mining Exchange, Smith Street, 1888
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
This solid stone building was designed by J.G. Knight as new premises for the auctioneer and merchant V.L. Solomon, the black-bearded figure standing second from left. Opened in 1885, it became known as Solomon's Emporium.
Solomon invested in several mining syndicates, and by September 1888, when Foelsche took this photograph, the building was being used as a mining brokerage. The building subsequently served as a bank, a torpedo workshop during World War Two, and the Crown Law Office. Today, as Brown's Mart, it houses a community theatre. It has survived three cyclones, the Japanese bombing and Darwin redevelopment.
Foelsche positioned Solomon and other Darwin businessmen in their tropical garb, and added a Chinese delivery boy for effect. Foelsche's son-in-law, H.W.H. Stevens, stands at right, drawing on his pipe.
16. Port Darwin jetty from Stokes Hill, September 1888
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
This scene of maritime progress and industry, photographed from Stokes Hill in September 1888, provides a vivid reminder of Darwin's early role as a trading port and its links to the wider world.
The newly-built jetty enabled ships to be loaded and unloaded more efficiently, using the Sandfly, a small steam locomotive. The Sandfly was also used in the construction of the North Australian railway from Port Darwin to Pine Creek. It is now preserved at the Berrimah terminus of the new transcontinental Ghan railway.
By the 1880s large sailing ships or 'clippers' like the one at the jetty were being supplanted by ships combining sail with steam power.
17. Palmerston Archery Club, 1880s
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
Foelsche's study of afternoon tea at the Palmerston Archery Club, in about 1888. Several members of this club were also active in Palmerston's theatrical society. This helps to account for the mannered elegance of the group, who were probably very familiar with Foelsche's style of photography, in which he placed his figures with great care.
By the 1880s Palmerston had its own library, institute, theatrical society and sporting clubs. The archery club welcomed women as members, including Foelsche's daughter Mary, who won the open competition in 1888. She received an engraved silver tray as a prize. In this carefully composed photograph Foelsche has placed her at right, against the bullseye, being offered a cake.
III — Policing the Frontier
Inspector Paul Foelsche commanded the Northern Territory police force for 34 years. He maintained the rule of law in an unpredictable frontier society, and established a reputation for great integrity. But Foelsche's record was not unblemished…
Soon after arriving at Port Darwin during January 1870, Foelsche and his men built their own police station. He then turned his attention to regulating the life of the small settlement of Palmerston, as it grew from about 60 to 200 Europeans during the next four years.
Following the discovery of gold during 1872, an increasing number of Chinese miners and labourers arrived in Port Darwin. Foelsche found himself faced with new problems, including opium use and 'gambling dens'.
At first Foelsche barely intervened in Aboriginal affairs. He understood that Aboriginal people had their own system of justice and retribution. Exceptions were in cases of violence against Europeans, theft or public drunkenness. Those problems increased as Europeans offered alcohol in exchange for labour or for Aboriginal women.
From 1879 the 'Protector of Aborigines' recommended that Foelsche act in cases of violence among Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people began appearing before the courts. Foelsche's dual role as photographer and policeman gives their portraits a particular resonance.
When Europeans were killed by Aboriginal people in the remote bush, Foelsche faced a dilemma. He favoured a decisive response, but this was easier said than done. By allowing his deputy, Corporal Montagu, to mount reprisal expeditions, innocent Aboriginal people were shot on at least three occasions. After the Daly River killings and reprisals of 1884, Montagu faced a full government enquiry and Foelsche was publicly criticised.
For the first 15 years of his Northern Territory service, Foelsche held hopes of a southern promotion. This never occurred, and he became resigned to completing his career in Palmerston.
On his retirement in 1904 Foelsche was the longest-serving public official in the Territory's history. He was awarded the Imperial Service Medal, and received an illuminated address from his fellow officers.
Policing Photographs
18. Palmerston's first police station, 1870
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original albumen half-plate print, State Library of South Australia.
Foelsche and his men cut the poles and erected this police station during mid-1870. It was the first police station in the Northern Territory. They completed the project reluctantly, as the Government Resident refused to assist them with labour. One of Foelsche's earliest photographs, with little of the complexity of his later work, it nevertheless provides rare documentation of the first built structures in Palmerston.
19. Palmerston police cells, 1871
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original albumen half-plate print, State Library of South Australia.
After the Government Residence, these police cells were probably the next stone structure built in Palmerston. Prisoners were held here prior to sentencing and imprisonment in the town gaol. Foelsche's photograph, taken in early 1871, shows the system of rainwater collection.
20. New police station, December 1875
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's photograph of the new police station, erected on the site of the first wooden station. On its opening the Northern Territory Times reported that the verandahs were 'well and smoothly laid; but we are sorry we cannot report thus favourably of the interior of the building'. Intended both as a police station and as Foelsche's residence, it was commandeered for use as 'government offices' by the Government Resident. The police station was relocated along the Esplanade, and Foelsche and his family moved to a new residence.
21. The capture of Ah Kim at 10.20 pm on 11th May 1875
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
This photograph is Foelsche's reconstruction of a tragic event, the shooting of an escaped Chinese prisoner during a police attempt to recapture him. Foelsche's motive for reconstructing the event is unclear. Public disquiet over the shooting of Ah Kim may have prompted Foelsche to prepare this unambiguous daylight tableau of a murky evening tragedy.
Among the contrived elements in this photograph is the puff of smoke from the policeman's carbine, which Foelsche painted onto the glass negative. The falling figure of Ah Kim himself is represented by a stuffed dummy.
Ah Kim was one of the first Chinese to arrive in the Northern Territory during 1871, as a ship's cook. He established a successful market garden at Yam Creek before working as a jeweller in Palmerston. During April 1874 he was arrested for the theft of some cheques he had found. Imprisoned without trial for a year, Ah Kim escaped from the Palmerston Gaol in April 1875, and eluded police capture. In fact, he was living in a tree on the foreshore, barely a stone's throw from Foelsche's police station.
On 10 May, Foelsche was tipped off that Ah Kim planned to row to Cox's Peninsula in a stolen boat, loaded with provisions. This boat is partly concealed behind the larger boat in the photograph. Foelsche sent two troopers, who ambushed Ah Kim late on the evening of 11 May 1875. They challenged him to surrender. He slipped from his hiding place above the boat, and fell. Believing him to be armed, a policeman fired a shot, hitting Ah Kim in the jaw and killing him instantly.
Ah Kim was far from a dangerous criminal. It was generally considered that he should not have been in prison in the first place, as his original offence consisted only of failing to return some cheques he had found. He had been held without trial for many months, and had written several letters complaining of his treatment, appealing to authorities in Palmerston and Adelaide.
22. Long Peter, Woolwonga man, 29 years, photographed in April 1878
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Long Peter was the English name applied to a Woolwonga man of the Pine Creek region, south of Palmerston. After the discovery of gold near Pine Creek during 1871, Woolwonga country was rapidly taken over by European and Chinese miners. The Chinese population on the gold-fields increased to several hundred by the mid-1870s, and there were numerous instances of conflict with Woolwonga people.
During January 1878 a teamster named James Ellis was attacked on the road near Pine Creek. He was speared to death and his goods were stolen. Foelsche immediately authorised a reprisal expedition, led by Police Trooper Stretton. Foelsche was telegraphed by the South Australian Minister, who told him that 'no firearms are to be used except in extreme cases and in self defence', but as Foelsche told his friend John Lewis, 'we'll be able to regulate all that … I left it to Stretton, and I could not have done better than he did'. The precise results of Stretton's expedition are unknown.
A few weeks after Ellis's death, two Chinese market gardeners were speared at Pine Creek. Long Peter had previously worked for one of them. According to the evidence he arrived at the garden one morning and speared Qua Kan with an eight foot long stone-headed spear. Foelsche posted a reward for Long Peter's arrest, and he was soon in Palmerston Gaol, sentenced to eight years hard labour for 'wounding with felonious intent'. He was also considered to have been involved in Ellis's murder.
Palmerston Gaol did not have a good record for retaining its prisoners. A journalist quipped that prisoners were often seen scaling the 3 metre high fence to post letters. In July 1879, eighteen months after his arrest, Long Peter escaped from the Gaol with the help of another inmate, the Malay prisoner Hubeeb Abdoola. There appears to be no record of Long Peter's recapture.
23. Biliamuk Gapal, Larrakia man, 37 years, photographed in 1890
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
In early 1869, as a young man of 16 or 17, Biliamuk Gapal was among the first Larrakia people to engage in barter with Goyder's survey team at Port Darwin. He soon became a key cultural broker, intervening on one occasion to save the party's German naturalist from being speared, and preventing reprisals.
During 1871 Biliamuk was sent to Adelaide with two other Larrakia men, to impress the trio with 'the number and power of the white races'. On his return Biliamuk worked as a police tracker, becoming known as 'Billy Muck'. He found himself in gaol for stealing government property, escaped and was re-imprisoned. This pattern continued into the 1880s. By then Foelsche had photographed Biliamuk several times, for anthropology journals and International Exhibitions.
J.G. Knight included Biliamuk's pencil drawings in the 'Dawn of Art' exhibition held in Melbourne during 1888. These drawings refer to Biliamuk's traditional knowledge, as do the ritual body scars which he accumulated during his engagement with frontier society, as cultural broker, prison inmate, servant and police tracker, ethnographic type and Larrakia elder.
The photograph above, taken by Foelsche during 1890, depicts Biliamuk as a Larrakia man of full status. He is wearing a kangaroo tooth headband with feathered tassels, cane arm and wristbands, and a bone nosepeg.
24. Wandy Wandy, Iwaidja man, about 35 years, photographed in August 1880
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wandy Wandy was an Iwaidja man of Croker Island, near Port Essington. During early 1878 E.O. Robinson and T.H. Wingfield established a trepang fishery there. Wandy Wandy and others considered that the Europeans were obliged to provide them with goods in recompense, such as tobacco.
In March 1878, an Iwaidja man demanded tobacco from Wingfield. Wingfield refused, and when the demands continued, shot the Iwaidja man dead. Wandy Wandy killed Wingfield with a tomahawk, and announced that he would kill every European who came to his country.
Inspector Foelsche was obliged to act. In June 1880, Wandy Wandy was handed over by his own people and charged with manslaughter. The photograph at right was taken shortly after Foelsche arrested him.
Wandy Wandy was sentenced to ten years in prison, with hard labour added for attempting to escape. His case attracted public attention, and it was observed Wingfield's killing had been 'in accordance with the well-known tribal custom'. During 1888 Wandy Wandy's prison drawing of kangaroos was shown in the J.G. Knight's 'Dawn of Art' exhibition in Melbourne.
After serving his time Wandy Wandy returned to Croker Island. During 1892 he was arrested again, for involvement in the deaths of six shipwrecked Macassan trepang fishermen. Judge Dashwood's jury took only five minutes to convict Wandy Wandy. Dashwood sentenced him to hang, and the sentence was carried out in Wandy Wandy's own country at Malay Bay, before 30 members of his Iwaidja group. The scaffold was left standing as a salutary warning.
IV — Industry and Progress: Promoting the Territory
During the 1870s and 1880s Paul Foelsche's photographs brought the Northern Territory's mines and industries to public attention. His photographs were selected for several International Exhibitions, from Paris and Philadelphia to Calcutta and Sydney.
At International Exhibitions Paul Foelsche's photographs of landscapes, mines and buildings were shown next to samples of gold and copper, timber and cotton, promoting the Northern Territory to investors.
Foelsche's role in the International Exhbitions began in 1874. He was encouraged by the architect J.G. Knight, who organised the Territory's contribution to Melbourne's 1875 Exhibition and to the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1876.
For the 1878 Paris Exhibition, the South Australian Government requested Foelsche to take photographs of the goldfields south of Palmerston. Foelsche complained to the Government Resident that his police 'spring-cart' was inadequate to transport the heavy photographic equipment, and he was given a heavier wagon. This photographic excursion initiated Foelsche into the demanding art of landscape photography, using the wet-plate process. During 1882, 1888 and 1891 Foelsche accompanied South Australian Government inspection tours of mines and industries, using these opportunities to refine his photographic skills.
Foelsche's photographs won several prizes in International Exhibitions. Germany's Kaiser sent him a gold hunting watch and a signed portrait. But despite this widespread international recognition, Paul Foelsche never sold a photograph commercially, and never saw an exhibition of his own photographic work.
Industry and Progress Photographs
Paul Foelsche's photography might have remained a hobby if it wasn't for the International Exhibitions of the 1870s. The South Australian Government was keen to promote its 'northern territory' to international investors, and Foelsche was asked to contribute photographs of Darwin and of the townships, mines, and country to the south. He rose to the occasion…
25. Wheal Margaret Gold Mine, Extended Union goldfield, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
The 1870s saw several gold-rushes in the Northern Territory. Greatest interest centred on the Pine Creek region, resulting in an influx of Chinese migrants who transformed the character of the Top End.
In late 1877 the South Australian Government requested Foelsche to photograph the goldfields for the 1878 Paris Exhibition, in an effort to attract further investment. This photograph resulted. It conveys the extent of the rapid environmental changes which mining wrought on the environment.
The image is a complex study in composition, light and shade. Like many Foelsche photographs, it contains an intriguing detail – has the upended wheelbarrow on the path slipped from the grip of the men standing above?
26. The Virginia Company's claim, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
Foelsche's photograph of the Virginia mine, near the small township of Stapleton, is a reminder of the environmental impact of early mining. Huge quantities of wood were burnt to fuel the steam engines driving the mine machinery. In the background a horse turns a whim to raise water for steam.
On opening for public subscription in March 1874, the Virginia Company offered 2,000 shares at 7,000 shares at one pound each. By 1882, when the mine was yielding 1 ¾ oz of gold per ton, it was taken over by an English company which deepened the mine-shaft to 50 metres in an effort to increase the yield.
27. Poett's Coffee Plantation, Rum Jungle, 1883
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Henry Poett's coffee plantation was carved out of the forest at Rum Jungle in 1881. Foelsche's 1883 photograph shows the nursery, with rows of tightly packed coffee plants irrigated by spring-fed channels.
The plantation quickly became a showpiece for visitors to the Territory, and this photograph probably aroused interest at several International Exhibitions. Poett, a former Ceylon planter, shipped more than 13 tons of coffee to Melbourne in 1882-83.
Poett and his manager D. Mackinnon confidently expected to employ 500 Tamil labourers by 1885. But by mid-1884 rising labour costs had made the plantation unfinancial; 400,000 coffee plants died and impatient shareholders closed down the company.
28. Minister J.C.F. Johnson & Party at McKinlay River, March 1888
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
In 1887 Foelsche exhibited several of his goldfields views at the Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition, together with a mineral collection assembled by J.G. Knight. The favourable publicity attracted the South Australian Minister for the Northern Territory, J.C.F. Johnson, to tour the goldfields during 1888. His pessimistic report advised the South Australian government to redraw the South Australian boundary north of the MacDonnell Ranges, and to give the rest of the Territory back to Britain. From that point until the Commonwealth assumed control in 1911, the Territory was often described in the press as 'the White Elephant', a growing liability for South Australia. This was despite the efforts of Foelsche and other loyal Territorians.
Foelsche's photograph shows the Minister and his party, posed with local Woolwonga Aboriginal people near the McKinlay River gold mines.
29. The SS Adelaide at the Roper River Landing, April 1889
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
Foelsche's photograph shows the S.S. Adelaide unloading stores (including boxes of whisky and gin) at the Roper River Landing, 150 kilometres upstream from the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Landing was first used in 1871 to transfer supplies inland for the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line. The 45 metre Adelaide was built in Hong Kong by Foelsche's son-in-law, H.W.H. Stevens, who operated a private fleet of steamers along the Terrritory's rivers and in trade with Asian ports.
Foelsche has photographed the Adelaide standing off from the bank, casting its reflection in the still river waters. The seated Aboriginal man contemplates the scene. In late June 1875 the Landing had not been as tranquil. Following the spearing of the Daly Waters telegraph master, Charles Johnstone, Foelsche authorised his deputy, Coporal George Montagu, to undertake unofficial reprisals against Aboriginal people involved in the spearing. Several innocent Aboriginal men were shot.
30. Christening the first locomotive, 19 July 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Construction of the 240 kilometre railway from Palmerston to Pine Creek was completed in October 1888, amid great hopes for its beneficial effect on the Territory's fortunes. Foelsche's photograph, taken at 4pm on 19 July 1887, records the moment when the judge's wife, Mrs Pater, christened the small locomotive 'Port Darwin' with a bottle of champagne. An evening banquet followed.
Unfortunately the railway did not transform the Territory's fortunes. Its southern terminus, Pine Creek, was too far north for use by cattle properties and freight charges were too high for the mines. Many Palmerston residents realised that only a railway link with Adelaide could fulfil their hopes. More than a century would pass before that occurred.
31. Point Charles lighthouse, 1895
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's 1895 photograph of the Point Charles lighthouse on Cox Peninsula, south-west of Port Darwin, was made on one of his last photographic excursions. He may have been accompanied by his wife and daughters and their husbands – the small party standing on the lighthouse platform, 30 metres above the ground.
The lighthouse was constructed in 1893 of wrought and cast iron. Its keeper was Hugh Christie, another keen amateur photographer, who also collected artefacts from the local Wagait people. In 1897, two years after Foelsche's photograph, a devastating cyclone destroyed most of Palmerston. At the lighthouse, it ripped bark off surrounding trees and stripped paint off the window frames. The lighthouse was automated in 1933, and is still an important beacon for ships using Darwin Harbour.
V — Entering the Landscape: Foelsche as Pictorial Photographer
During late 1877 Foelsche was asked to photograph the goldfields south of Darwin for the Paris Exhibition of 1878. He loaded a wagon with his camera, tripod, portable darkroom and chemicals, and his photography entered a new phase, in which he captured the forms and shades of the Territory landscape.
Foelsche's 1877 and 1878 photographic commissions took him to the goldfields and the townships of Stapleton, Southport and Yam Creek. On these trips he found his own gift as a landscape photographer, overcoming challenges of harsh light, wide horizons and the difficulties of transporting cumbersome equipment. Inspector Foelsche had no qualms about modifying the landscape to achieve his aim, chopping down trees and shrubs to clear lines of perspective through his images, from foreground to background.
Foelsche sought out shaded pools and rivers, exploiting the softening and reflective qualities of water, and positioning human subjects nearby. It is easy to imagine that Foelsche's own childhood, spent in a small village on the banks of one of Europe's great rivers, the Elbe, influenced this aspect of his photography.
His placement of human figures was a special feature of Foelsche's landscape photography, giving his work a theatrical quality. This staging is rarely obvious, partly because of Foelsche's unerring eye for composition, so that his figures always seem to be in their natural positions. By framing figures with trees and branches, or in doorways, he created his own idiosyncratic vignettes, within the wider scene.
The fine detail in Foelsche's landscape studies is an unusual feature in nineteenth-century photography. The limited size of photographic prints (no larger than an A4 sheet) meant that few photographers had reason to add such detail. But Paul Foelsche owned a lantern-slide projector, and perhaps the opportunity to appreciate large-scale images of his photographs influenced his compositions and gave this policeman-photographer a forensic eye for detail.
Pictorial Photographs
During the early 1880s Foelsche began taking his cumbersome photographic equipment on his police inspections, as far south as Katherine. These excursions resulted in some of his most successful landscape photographs. Foelsche paid particular attention to the composition of these images, clearing the foregrounds of vegetation and positioning people like actors on a stage.
32. First shipment of wool from Victoria River Downs, 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
This 1891 photograph records the first consignment of wool from Victoria River Downs station, ready to be loaded aboard a small river-boat for Port Darwin. The two wagon-teams have arrived at the Victoria River Depot after an overland journey from the head station, about 130 kilometres to the south. An experimental flock of 1,000 sheep had been brought to Victoria River Downs in 1890. These did well initially, and the flock was doubled, but the experiment was short-lived. The climate was too severe, particularly for lambs.
The photograph contains several fascinating insights into this frontier period. It shows a complete wagon team with its white overseers, Aboriginal workers and bales marked with the VRD initials. The pipe-smoking Aboriginal women may be with their own menfolk, but their clothing also suggests a link to the white men. This is not a snapshot, but a carefully composed image. Foelsche has positioned the wagons, men and women precisely for best effect, against the backdrop of the Victoria River and Steep Head.
33. 'Our House' hotel, Stapleton, 1879
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
This photograph, taken in December 1879, shows the lengths taken by Foelsche to create a pictorial landscape in the European style. His main objective was to record the 'Our House' hotel, on the road from the township of Stapleton to the goldfields, near the Adelaide River. First licensed in June 1874, the hotel advertised 'good liquor of all classes'.
The pool of water enabled Foelsche to fill the foreground with reflections, creating a scene within a scene. He enlisted a passing wagon, added his police buggy (at left), and directed an Aboriginal man to hold his white horse at the water's edge, casting a further reflection. The hotel patrons stand motionless in the distance. In the near foreground, tree stumps indicate that Foelsche may have cleared this view for his camera.
34. Ant-hill, six miles south of Rum Jungle, September 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's 1887 study of a six-metre high ant-hill, near the track leading to Rum Jungle, about 80 kilometres south of Palmerston. His wife Charlotte is seated in the first buggy, just discernible. The identity of the second buggy's occupants remains a mystery.
Next to Foelsche's buggy is the wooden box used to hold his glass plate negatives. Foelsche prepared his photographs so well that he generally required only a single plate for each photograph.
Like many of Foelsche's landscapes, this photograph is not confined to a single subject. The tree and ant-hill frame another theme, that of the travellers who have arrived at this ancient scene.
35. Kathleen Falls, on the road to the Victoria River, September 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Kathleen Falls, on the road to the Victoria River, September 1887
This photograph illustrates Foelsche's single-mindedness in constructing his pictorial views. He identified the required scene and its vantage point, and if any trees or vegetation blocked the view, they were removed. Here, Foelsche allowed only one pandanus trunk to intrude, providing a link across the water to the background, and framing the view between two sets of waterfalls. The other palms were chopped down, their stumps still visible.
A detail of Foelsche's companion view to this photograph (reproduced below) shows the Aboriginal boy engaged for this pruning job, leaning against the pandanus palm, axe in hand.
36. Natives on the Adelaide River, December 1888
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche composed this complex pictorial study in December 1888, at the start of the wet season which would transform this gentle stream into a raging torrent. In the background is the Adelaide River Bridge, recently completed for the Port Darwin – Pine Creek railway.
Foelsche has constructed an imaginary scene, in which the Aboriginal group crossing the stream encounters a European in his boat. Foelsche has carefully placed all the characters, framing them in the dappled light between the trees, and using the river to draw the viewer's eye into the frame.
37. Wreck of the Young Australian steamer, Roper River, 1889
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
In 1871 the Young Australian paddle steamer was sent by the South Australian government to assist in transporting equipment and stores for the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line. A year later, the steamer was grounded on rocks in the Roper River, about 20 kilometres south of the Roper Bar. The wreck remained a landmark for several decades.
Foelsche visited the wreck in 1889 and made two atmospheric photographs. He placed two white companions and an Aboriginal man on it, as though they were survivors, and photographed the scene from the river bank. The moody scene evokes the transience of the European presence in this landscape.
38. Baob trees marked on A.C. Gregory's North Australian expedition, 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
These baob trees mark the Victoria River base camp of the explorer A.C. Gregory, used during his North Australia Expedition of 1855-1856. The inscription 'letter in forge', on the tree at right, refers to a letter Gregory left here before returning to Brisbane in October 1856. The iron forge is just visible at the base of tree on the left. The botanist Ferdinand von Mueller was a member of Gregory's expedition and named this particular species of baob Adansonia gregorii, after the explorer. Foelsche corresponded extensively with von Mueller and had sent him more than 200 plant specimens, now preserved in the Melbourne Herbarium. Perhaps Foelsche also sent him a print of this photograph (or a companion image, depicting another baob marked by Gregory), as no photographer had accompanied Gregory's expedition. Foelsche has caught the essence of these ancient baob trees, which are sacred to the Ngaringman people of the Victoria River.
39. Wickham River, looking toward Victoria River Downs head station, 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche has placed his tripod on the southern bank of the Wickham River, looking across to the out-buildings of the Victoria River Downs head-station. He has taken advantage of a still afternoon, combining the oblique afternoon light, reflection and lengthening shadows. The men in the boat are obligingly motionless, and the boat rests at its mooring without a ripple. The man in the stern is H.W.H. Stevens, Foelsche's son-in-law, and manager of the Victoria River Downs station.
Foelsche's mastery of these riverine scenes suggests that he drew upon his own childhood familiarity with the Elbe River, in his native land.
40. Wickham River crossing, near Victoria River Downs head-station, 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's 1891 atmospheric study of light, shade and reflection at the Wickham River crossing, just downstream from Victoria River Downs head-station. Light filtering through the canopy of gnarled paperbark trees and palms accentuates the whiteness of Foelsche's police horses and his companion's shirt. Foelsche has positioned the man and horses in the pool to gain their reflections, adding complexity to a subtle pictorial study.
The buggy is Foelsche's own 'spring cart', just large enough to carry his tripod and bulky camera equipment strapped down behind the seat. The man, probably a stockman at the Victoria River Downs station, can be recognised as the oarsman in the previous photograph.
41. Katherine River, 14 miles up from the crossing, July 1893
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
From 1883 to 1893 Foelsche made several photographs of the Katherine River Gorge. This image is one of his most successful. By positioning a standing man in a rowboat against the distant cliff wall, Foelsche has unobtrusively added a human scale to this impressive scene. Perhaps the man was unaware that Foelsche's negative contains sufficient detail to confirm that he is naked. He had probably been swimming in this pool, now a favourite tourist destination in the Nitmiluk National Park, co-managed by the Jawoyn Aboriginal people.
42. View on Katherine River, ten miles above the crossing, July 1893
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's view of the Katherine River, photographed from the top of the gorge on a late afternoon in July 1893. The pipe-smoking Aboriginal couple are probably Jawoyn people of Nitmiluk, the Katherine River Gorge. The man holding the axe has just completed clearing vegetation from the edge of the gorge, opening the river vista for Foelsche's camera, and creating a frame for the couple themselves.
Foelsche generally avoided large panoramas over a wide extent of country. This photograph is an exception, in which he used the river itself to lead the viewer successfully from the foreground to the far horizon.
43. Unloading supplies at Victoria River Landing, September 1893
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche made at least two visits to Victoria River Downs station during the early 1890s. This photograph of the Victoria River Depot documents the arrival of the supply boat Crayfish, having navigated the 150 kilometre journey up-river, after the coastal journey from Port Darwin. Having unloaded the supplies (apparently consisting mainly of bags of flour), the men are resting in the late afternoon.
This isolated river port provided a lifeline for the head station, 130 kilometres to the south. The alternative was a 500 kilometre overland journey to Palmerston. The Victoria River Depot was used until the 1930s, when road transport finally made it redundant. It is now an historical reserve, close to the small township of Timber Creek.
On Steep Head the blackened limits of a recent bushfire probably resulted from Aboriginal burning practices.
44. Burial platform, September 1896
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
This is one of Foelsche's last pictorial views, taken in September 1896. It depicts an Aboriginal burial platform in the bush south of Palmerston, possibly near Rum Jungle. Foelsche took two photographs of the platform from different angles, cutting down several small trees in the process. In an anthropological article published a year earlier, Foelsche wrote that while infants children and old people in the Port Darwin region were buried in shallow graves, young people are placed in trees; a sort of platform is made in the branches some 10 feet from the ground…the body is wrapped in paper bark…and placed on the platform covered with bark and leaves, where it remains till quite dry, when, in some instances, the relatives (always women) collect some of the bones and skull and carry them about with them for several months, when they are buried. The names of deceased persons are seldom mentioned. (Foelsche, 1895) Foelsche's buggy and his camera box are visible in the background. We can assume that the site was not far from a road, as by 1896 the 65 year-old Foelsche was becoming less physically active, restricted by pain in his legs.
45. Paul Foelsche's family at Mindil Beach, about 1890
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
Paul Foelsche's whimsical study of his family on Mindil Beach, a mile or so from Palmerston, in about 1896. His usual precision is evident, with the canopy of leaves just brushing the land on the horizon. The composition's central figure is his wife Charlotte, who faces her husband directly. The scene has added poignancy, for she was to die just three years later.
At right, barefooted and holding a kite in insouciant fashion, is Foelsche's energetic son-in-law Hildebrand Stevens, one of the Territory's pioneering figures. He was to die in Singapore's Changi prisoner-of-war camp half a century later, aged 93. Next to him is his wife, Rosie Emma, Foelsche's eldest daughter. William Andrews, husband of Foelsche's other daughter Mary, stands on Rosie's right, next to a Chinese servant and an Aboriginal boy. Mary sits with her two daughters, Rita and the younger Dorothy (later the custodian of Foelsche's landscape negatives until her death in the late 1960s). An unidentified man, seated cross-legged and smoking a pipe, completes the group.
VI — Crocodiles and River Cruises: The Kintore-Stirling Expedition of 1891
During the 1891 visit of the South Australian Governor and the Director of the South Australian Museum, Foelsche made one of his finest series of photographs. The images provide an insight into the 'colonial project', in which Foelsche was both participant and observer.
During early 1891 the South Australian Governor (Lord Kintore) and the South Australian Museum Director, Dr Edward Stirling, undertook a transcontinental expedition from Port Darwin to Adelaide, travelling by horse and buggy. The official purpose was to allow the Governor to assess the economic state of the Northern Territory at first hand, at a critical stage in its history. Stirling's role was to gauge the severity of 'redwater disease' (anthrax) affecting Territory cattle, and to gather a collection of anthropological and natural history specimens for his Museum.
Paul Foelsche and his influential son-in-law, H.W.H. Stevens, helped to introduce the vice-regal party to the Top End. Foelsche assisted Stirling in collecting Aboriginal artefacts at Port Essington, providing Iwaidja names for them. He and Stevens took the Governor and Stirling on a crocodile hunting expedition along the Adelaide River, by steam launch. The vice-regal party travelling by railway to the goldfields near the Adelaide River, inspecting these before continuing to the rail terminus at Pine Creek.
On 9 April the vice-regal party set off by horse and buggy for the trip south to Oodnadatta, along the Overland Telegraph Line which represented South Australia's greatest engineering and communications achievement.
Kintore-Stirling Expedition Photographs
46. Crocodile shooting on the Daly River, 5 March 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Before the Governor's arrival in Port Darwin on 31 March 1891, Edward Stirling spent several weeks with his museum's collector, Thomas Cornock, collecting natural history specimens. Crocodile hunting was a highlight, assisted by Paul Foelsche, his son-in-law, Hildebrand Stevens, and two Aboriginal men. On 5 March 1891, Cornock made this entry in his diary:
Doctor Stirling & Mr Stevens and another gentleman have gone down the river for Alligator, they brought back three - the largest of them 8 feet long, two smaller ones. I made a spirit specimen of the larger one's skin in pickle. The doctor and Mr Foelsche helped me with the skinning. Mr Foelsche took a photo of the party on the bank of the river just before we started to skin the alligator. (Cornock journal, South Australian Museum Archives)
Foelsche has photographed Stirling (gun in hand), Cornock (holding the axe), Stevens and their two unnamed Aboriginal assistants on the bank of the Daly River, ready to commence the task of skinning the crocodile.
47. Dr Stirling at Knuckey's Lagoon, 14 March 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's study of a scientist in the landscape. Dr Edward Stirling, co-founder of the Adelaide Medical School and Director of the South Australian Museum, is seated at the reins of Foelsche's buggy.
The 1891 transcontinental expedition with the South Australian Governor was Stirling's first major foray into the bush. Their 2,000 kilometre journey south, along the Overland Telegraph Line to Oodndadatta, gave him the opportunity to make important natural history and anthropological collections. Three years later he was a member of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia. Foelsche has positioned Stirling against the tall grass surrounding Knuckey's Lagoon. Emu, their Djerimanga assistant, is holding his spear in an uncharacteristic pose, accentuating the mid-line of the buggy's harness shaft, and linking him to the rest of the image.
48. Lord Kintore and Dr Stirling in theVictoria, Adelaide River, April 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
A vice-regal cruise on the Adelaide River, April 1891. Paul Foelsche has carefully constructed this late afternoon view of the South Australian Governor and Dr Edward Stirling, on the deck of the S.S. Victoria. Foelsche's has positioned his camera on the river bank for the best view of the Victoria and its reflection. The boat is completely still, with only the river's tidal flow creating a slight ripple around the rudder. Foelsche's son-in-law H.W.H. Stevens was the Victoria's owner and skipper. He stands shirtless at the bow. A vigilant Edward Stirling is on the watch for crocodiles - a close scrutiny of this image reveals a rifle on the bench behind. The drinks tray is also handy. Perhaps a gin and tonic is contemplated, as the Governor surveys this untamed fragment of Queen Victoria's empire.
49. Dr Stirling's party at the Beatrice Hill Jetty, Adelaide River, 8 March 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
This photograph was taken during Dr Stirling's crocodile hunting cruise up the Adelaide River during early March 1891 The party spent two days at Beatrice Hill, where Foelsche's son-in-law H.W.H. Stevens, managed a coffee plantation and the Marrakai cattle station on behalf of the Melbourne-based Fisher and Lyons pastoral company.
Foelsche has photographed Dr Stirling's party at the Beatrice Hills jetty, about 60 kilometres from the river mouth. His vantage point was probably Stevens' steam launch, S.S. Victoria, and he has positioned it to capture the full reflection cast by the tree canopy above the group.
This view is one of Foelsche's finest landscape images. Its only flaw is the slight blurring of the figures on the jetty, possibly caused by the shudder of the Victoria's engines, as Foelsche made his exposure.
VII — Foelsche, The Naturalist
On his arrival in the Northern Territory, Paul Foelsche was struck by the beauty of the landscape, and the variety of its plant and animal life. He quickly became an enthusiastic naturalist. He sent specimens to the South Australian Museum and collected plants for the famous botanist, Ferdinand von Mueller.
The South Australian Museum's first Curator, Frederick Waterhouse, encouraged Foelsche's interests, sending him books and collecting equipment. Foelsche also befriended the ornithologist James Stapleton, and sent bird specimens to Adelaide during 1871 and 1872. A year later, despite increasing police duties, Foelsche found time to collect grasshoppers and other insects for the Batavia Museum.
Foelsche's interest in botany was encouraged by the mercurial Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, a fellow German. During the early 1880s Foelsche sent more than 200 carefully preserved plant specimens to von Mueller at the Melbourne Herbarium. Among them was a new species of orchid, and a previously unknown eucalpyt. Von Mueller named both species in Foelsche's honour.
During 1891 Foelsche assisted the collecting efforts of the South Australian Museum director, Edward Stirling, gathering a large collection of ethnographic and natural history specimens, including crocodiles, birds, mammals, insects and shells.
Foelsche took few photographs of natural history subjects. He preferred to take wider, more complex views, rather than close-ups of single subjects. Perhaps he considered that his scientific specimens served the purpose of a photograph.
Unfortunately, with the exception of his botanical specimens, few of Foelsche's natural history specimens can be identified today. Despite this, it is clear that he formed part of a wide community of interested amateurs who sustained the growth of museums and their collections during the late nineteenth century.
Photographs
50. Termite nest, with Corymbia foelscheana, early 1880s
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche did not include this photograph in his album sets. The probable reason is that the horse and buggy distract attention from the apparent main subject, the termite nest. But the main subject of this photograph is probably the distinctive large-leafed eucalypt tree at the right. This tree has been identified as Corymbia foelscheana, a species discovered by Foelsche and named in his honour in 1882 by the botanist Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. A facsimile of Foelsche's original specimen, and further details of his plant collecting, are contained in the adjacent display case. Foelsche probably took this photograph to document the tree, rather than the termite nest. The horse and buggy serve as a useful scale for both.
51. Banyan tree, Palmerston Botanic Gardens, 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
One of two Foelsche photographs of the distinctive banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis), with its aerial roots harbouring a range of other plant species. These trees stood in the Palmerston Botanic Gardens, near the site of the present Gardens. His interest in the banyan may have been provoked by understanding its importance to Aboriginal people, who helped him collect many botanical specimens during the early 1880s.
Foelsche collected samples of banyan tree bark and the fibre which Larrakia people used for making string and woven bags, like those in this exhibition. Foelsche recorded the Larrakia name of the tree as lamumber, and the name of the bark (illustrated here) as bailigimber.
VIII — Foelsche, The Photographer
Paul Foelsche began his photography during the 'wet-plate' era. He mastered this complex procedure, producing images which capture the spirit of the Northern Territory landscape and the personality of his subjects. Yet, until now, Foelsche has remained almost unknown.
Paul Foelsche was not the Territory's first photographer. He was preceded by at least five others, including Joseph Brooks, a member of Goyder's 1869 Survey Expedition. Brooks' photographs were shown in Adelaide during the weeks prior to Foelsche's departure. Perhaps these images inspired Foelsche to pack his camera equipment…
Captain Samuel Sweet's Influence
At Port Darwin, Foelsche was certainly influenced by Samuel Sweet, an accomplished photographer who captained the South Australian survey ship 'Gulnare' on the northern coast during 1869-1871. Foelsche's first photographs of Palmerston are very similar to Sweet's. It seems likely that Sweet passed on photographic knowledge to the younger man, and perhaps some prints, when he left Port Darwin late in 1871. Foelsche's method of framing his compositions and his attention to detail may owe a good deal to Sweet.
In the Field
For his landscape views, Foelsche loaded his photographic equipment into the spring-cart used for his official tours of duty. Before the mid-1880s, when he began using prepared dry-plates, this was a heavy load of equipment. It consisted of his camera, tripod, portable darkroom and tripod, chemical jars, and boxes of glass plates. For his townscapes, Foelsche also used a folding wooden platform for his camera tripod, giving him an elevated view of buildings and streets.
Improving Nature: Foelsche at Work
Foelsche mastered the art of mixing photographic chemicals and used only the purest distilled water for his work. Very few of his negatives are spoilt.
He built a small photographic studio next to his house in Palmerston, and it was here that he made many of his portraits, using a round-backed cedar chair, and a canvas backdrop. For the most part, the subjects in his portraits appear relaxed, but Foelsche used two particular techniques to achieve his results. Firstly, to counter the reflective sheen from the faces of his subjects, Foelsche asked them to apply a mixture of powdered charcoal, to dull the effect. He found that the charcoal from the 'cotton bush' was best. Secondly, to disguise the presence of the chair-back, Foelsche asked his subjects to fold their arms in a certain way. This generally worked, but a small part of the chair-back can be seen in several portraits.
Photographs
52. Iwaidja people waiting to be photographed, Port Essington, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
During November 1877 Foelsche sailed north-east from Port Darwin to Port Essington, site of one of the first British settlements in northern Australia. His objective was to obtain photographic portraits of the Iwaidja people for the 1878 Paris Exhibition.
This photograph shows Iwaidja people waiting on the beach in front of Foelsche's photographic tent, next to a trepang fishery shed. Behind the tent are stockyards for the Cobourg Cattle Company, owned by Foelsche's old friend, John Lewis. Foelsche visited Port Essington regularly during the 1870s and came to know Iwaidja elders, obtaining their agreement for his photographic project.
Each photograph took almost an hour of complex work, mixing chemicals, exposing and developing the glass plates. Foelsche wrote of this trip: 'I worked in a tent, 110 [degrees] in the shade, rather too hot for any European to work 10 hours a day in'. (Foelsche to J. Lewis, 19 December 1877, PRG 247, State Library of South Australia.)
53. Daly River cattle station, September 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's enthusiasm for photographic composition sometimes overshadowed the main subject, as in this study of the Daly River cattle station. In the foreground he has positioned three Europeans, two Chinese, two Aboriginal people, three horses, two carriages and a dog. The cart and the buggy frame the cast of characters. At left, the two Chinese men provide a smaller frame for the two Aboriginal stockmen. Between them, the eye is drawn to the edge of a distant building. On the right, the two European stockmen appear to be regarding the dog on the horse's back. But both the horse and dog are looking towards the last character - the seated man, neatly framed by the stockman's arm, horse's head and bridle.
54. Camp on the road to Daly River cattle station, September 1887
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
Foelsche's landscape photographs were usually meticulously composed. This photograph seems to be an exception. It is an image of the photographer's own overnight camp, on the way to the Daly River cattle station in September 1887. Foelsche's wife Charlotte, who rarely appeared in his photographs, returns his gaze directly. Behind her are their two hammock beds, tightly strung between trees. Foelsche's revolver hangs from one tree, within reach of the right-hand hammock. The Foelsches' bearded companion, who sits stirring his tea, has probably camped further away, out of the picture. A bottle of whisky or brandy stands on Foelsche's empty chair, behind a travelling bag emblazoned with his name. Foelsche rarely appeared in photographs, and his shadow rarely fell across his images. This image, the closest to a snapshot left by him, provides a rare personal insight.
55, 56, 57. Three Studies of the Adelaide River railway bridge, 1888
Digital prints from 600dpi scans of original dry-plate glass negatives, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Digital prints from 600dpi scans of original dry-plate glass negatives, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Digital prints from 600dpi scans of original dry-plate glass negatives, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
In December 1888 Foelsche made a series of four eccentric studies in which the Adelaide River railway bridge provides a backdrop to his own staged scenes. Foelsche's manipulation of human figures suggests a theatre set design. In fact, at least two of the Europeans in these photographs were members of Palmerston's theatrical society. Perhaps they encouraged Foelsche's own tendency to 'choreograph' these photographs.
The first photograph to the left was Foelsche's 'official version' of this scene. Few people would have noticed that the man seated on the rock has a white cockatoo on his knee, but this can be confirmed by comparing it with the photograph below , where the cockatoo is motionless. This cockatoo, known as 'Cocky Haynes', resided at the nearby Adelaide River hotel, where it was known to shout the orders with sound-effects of popping corks, fizzing bottles and 'guggling of beer'. The bird's presence here is a sign that we should not regard these as ordinary landscape photographs.
Most of Foelsche's photographic contemporaries were committed to portraying nature or events in an entirely truthful and objective manner. Foelsche's photography was both strikingly innovative and subtly masked.
Foelsche's Photographic Techniques
Paul Foelsche began his photography during the 'wet-plate' era. Each photographic image was captured on a glass negative coated with chemicals, which had to be printed immediately. A field photographer needed a large camera and tripod, glass plates, chemicals, storage boxes and a portable darkroom. This equipment weighed as much as half a tonne, and Foelsche needed a sturdy horse-drawn spring cart to carry it.
After about 1880 'dry-plate' photography allowed a photographer to prepare a number of glass plates in advance, so that only a camera and tripod was needed. Printing could occur later. This increased mobility allowed Foelsche to extend the range of his photographic trips.
Foelsche printed all his photographs himself, but he never sold a photograph. As a policeman and a public servant, he couldn't be seen to be profiting from his photography. He sent many of his photographs to International Exhibitions, and presented albums to friends and important visitors to Palmerston, such as the South Australian Governor in 1891, or the Earl of Brassey in 1887.
IX — Foelsche, The Anthropologist
Paul Foelsche arrived in Port Darwin just as the study of other peoples and cultures was being recognised as a new field of Western science, 'Anthropology'. Foelsche contributed to this study, by recording vocabularies and making observations on the culture of the Larrakia, Woolna and Iwaidja peoples. His portrait photographs became a crucial element in this anthropological record.
Foelsche's first anthropological records were his 1874 photographs of Larrakia camps. His portrait photography was initially made with a measuring scale, but his participation in the photography sections of International Exhibitions gave his photographs a broader appeal. He began carefully recording the names of his sitters, and their personal details. This was quite unusual for nineteenth-century anthropology.
During 1880 Foelsche responded to E.M. Curr's Australia-wide survey, supplying descriptions of the Larrakia and the Unalla (Iwaidja) peoples, together with samples of their vocabularies.
Encouraged by the South Australian Museum, Foelsche prepared a fuller account of the Larrakia, submitting this to the Adelaide branch of the Royal Society in 1881, together with a set of anthropometric photographs.
During 1889 Foelsche responded to a call from the South Australian Museum and made a carefully documented collection of artefacts, listing their Aboriginal names and uses. During this period Foelsche prepared several collections for other museums and collectors.
In his time, Foelsche was an acknowledged authority on anthropology. By today's standards, this reputation does not bear close examination. Although he was careful to record Aboriginal names correctly, he spoke only a form of Aboriginal pidgin English. He made one attempt to document Larrakia and Iwaidja origin myths, but he had little understanding of Aboriginal religion or social structure. Indeed, few Europeans did.
But Foelsche clearly appreciated that Aboriginal society had its own valid laws, and that European law was an alien imposition. He understood his own role in altering that balance. Writing to a friend in Germany after his retirement, Foelsche put it in these terms:
This is an Old Country with an Old People. The New People must remember the claims of the Old People. They were here first, and they have their established customs and institutions. So far as those customs and institutions can be related to our standards, they must be respected. For illegalities, there must be understanding.
— S. Downer, Patrol Indefinite, 1963
Photographs
Paul Foelsche's photography of Aboriginal people began as a response to the late 19th century interest in 'racial types', as a branch of the new 'science' of Anthropology. These first images often incorporated a measurement scale. But Foelsche saw these people as individuals, rather than as scientific specimens. He began recording the names of his subjects, their ages and language groups.
The Aboriginal people in Foelsche's portraits had to keep still for two or three seconds, in order to produce a clear, unblurred image. This fixed pose tended to make them appear serious, even concerned, but the same may be said of European portraits of the late 19th century. Despite Foelsche's role as a law-enforcer, the evidence suggests that Aboriginal people were willing participants in his photographic project.
58. Iwaidja people in camp, Port Essington, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original wet-plate glass negative, State Library of South Australia.
This image might be regarded as one of Foelsche's early masterpieces. What appears to be an informal view of people in camp, relaxing, talking and attending to their business, has been well organised by the photographer. Most importantly, people have been alerted to be absolutely still, and only the blurred image of one or two children can be seen. No other nineteenth-century photographer, working with exposures of three or four seconds, achieved such success in photographing large groups of Aboriginal people. Foelsche's authority as a policeman may have had something to do with this, but there is little doubt also that he had the gift of communicating his intentions.
The central figure in this image is the Iwaidja woman known to Foelsche as Flash Poll, a key cultural broker between her people and the South Australians. She is indicated (perhaps intentionally) by the fan of spears pointing down in her direction.
Behind the seated group is the shed used by the trepang fisherman, E.O. Robinson. The station buildings for the Cobourg Cattle Company, which employed several of the Iwaidja men at this camp, are behind this shed, out of sight..
Several of the Iwaidja people in this image appear in Foelsche's portrait series, which was made in a tent on the other side of the shed, during these days in November 1877.
59. Public ceremony by Larrakia men, 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
This photograph is of a public ceremony performed by Larrakia men at Palmerston, probably during the visit of the South Australian Governor in April 1891. Known as the 'Warrangin' ceremony, the performance was open and could be viewed by all, including Aboriginal women. Larrakia people also hosted ceremonies in Palmerston from other groups, such as the Djerimanga, Wagait and Alligator Rivers people, and it is possible that some of these individuals are included in this group. One of the performers can be identified with certainty – the Larrakia man known as Elbow Davy, fourth from the right (see portrait no. 3).
In ceremonies of this kind, both the pole and the hats would ordinarily have been abandoned at the end. Instead, Paul Foelsche collected them: ten of the ceremonial hats are preserved in the South Australian Museum. One of the hats is displayed here, made of grass stems wrapped with hair-string and decorated, like the performers, with native cotton and down. The remainder of the hats were presented to the Governor, the Earl of Kintore, and are now in Scotland.
60. Demonstrating the Larrakia spearthrower grip, ca.1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
An unnamed Larrakia man demonstrating the spearthrower grip in Paul Foelsche's studio. Foelsche may have been asked by Edward Stirling, Director of the South Australian Museum, to document the way in which Larrakia men launched their spears using the spearthrower. Methods and the spearthrower-grip varied across the continent and anthropologists were interested in mapping these variations. Edward Stirling had commented on this during his 1891 visit to Palmerston, and had noted in his journal that: 'womerah held by 3, 4 & 5 finger. Index [finger] between womerah & spear. Thumb round spear' (Stirling 1891 journal, South Australian Museum Archives).
In his attempt to show as much of the spear as possible, Foelsche has revealed more of his studio than appears in many of his other portrait photographs. This makeshift studio, which relied upon natural light regulated by a canvas awning, was built onto the side of Foelsche's house.
61. Larrakia camp in Cavenagh Square, Palmerston, 1874
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original albumen print, South Australian Museum Archives.
George Goyder's 1869 survey of Palmerston took little account of traditional Larrakia camping places. It is unclear whether these people had already been displaced to Cavenagh Square by the time of Foelsche's photograph in 1874. As if to mark the fact that this camp was absorbed within Palmerston, and that its warriors no longer represented a threat to settlement, Foelsche placed two Europeans in the background. Within another year or two, townspeople were agitating to have the camp moved away from the town centre, and for a curfew to be imposed on Aboriginal people.
The young man wearing trousers in the right foreground is probably Biliamuk Gapal, who had become a key figure in relations between the Larrakia and Europeans. In 1874 he was also working as a police tracker for Paul Foelsche.
62. Larrakia people in camp, Palmerston, 1890
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Foelsche's 1890 photograph of one of the main camps of the Larrakia. This camp, constructed partly from European materials, was situated at the edge of town, near the Chinese quarter. By 1890 several Larrakia men and women were employed in the town, returning to this camp each evening.
The linguist T.A. Parkhouse gave this contemporary description:
The camp is arranged in two divisions at the head of Cavendish and Smith streets, and in the larger of these there are several circles of wurleys. About 150 yards distant, on the north, is the second division, with two circles of wurleys, in this division resides Wulnars, brothers to Larrakiyas by alliance or descent [...]. On the Lammeroo Beach there is another distinct camp of Larrakiyas. These camps are all in permanent occupation […] during the rainy season; then upon a given day there is a migration of the majority […] the main body return in various parties […] at the beginning of the wet season.
— PRG300, A35, State Library of South Australia
Foelsche undoubtedly knew all the Larrakia people in this photograph. Perhaps that accounts for his success in its composition and its clarity, which required perfect stillness for several seconds.
63. Iwaidja ceremony at Port Essington ruins, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original albumen print, South Australian Museum Archives.
This is the earliest known image of Aboriginal ceremony in the Northern Territory. It shows a group of Iwaidja men performing for a mixed group of men, women and children, at the site of the old British settlement of Port Essington, which was abandoned in 1848. Foelsche noted that several of the older Iwaidja people remembered the British and could even sing marching songs and sea shanties learnt from them. Two didjeridu players can be seen just to the right of the standing performers, who are standing motionless for the camera.
Several of the old buildings were dismantled and the stone reused in the Cobourg Cattle Company buildings, which were erected nearby during the early 1870s. Paul Foelsche acted as an agent for one of the Company's owners, John Lewis, whose son Essington later founded the B.H.P. iron and steel company.
During this November 1877 visit, Foelsche's primary aim was to obtain photographs of the Iwaidja to submit to the 1878 Paris Exhibition. It is likely that this image was among those submitted.
64. Iwaidja people at the old mango tree, Port Essington, April 1875
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original albumen print, South Australian Museum Archives.
A group of Iwaidja people photographed at Port Essington, in front of the old mango tree, a survivor of the gardens planted by the British garrisoned there from 1839 to 1848. The photograph is dated to April, 1875, and if correct, it is the earliest known image of Iwaidja people. Apart from the two Europeans, who may be associated with the Cobourg Cattle Company which was based at Port Essington, the photograph shows a Malay man in traditional dress. He is possibly one of the crew from a fishing proa, visiting the Arnhem Land coast to catch and smoke-dry the trepang or sea-slug, which were found in these waters in great numbers. The annual visits of these fishing fleets had resulted in close relationships with Iwaidja people, and Foelsche observed that all the Iwaidja whom he met could communicate easily in the language of the Malay trepangers.
Foelsche's tribal map
Part of Foelsche's tribal mapPaul Foelsche's tribal map was prepared at the request of the South Australian Museum Director, Edward Stirling, in 1891. It shows Paul Foelsche's understanding of the territories occupied by the various Aboriginal groups in the vicinity of Darwin. Subsequent research has resulted in a different picture of these boundaries, but Foelsche's map represents an important stage in European understanding of these complex issue.
Foelsche's 'Notes on the Aborigines of North Australia'
Foelsche was a member of the Royal Society of South Australia, and in 1881 he sent a paper to Adelaide to be read at one of the Society's meetings. Titled 'Notes on the Aborigines of North Australia', it summarised his observations on the various Aboriginal groups, gathered during the previous decade.
Foelsche's 'Notes on the Aborigines of North Australia'
Foelsche's article 'On the Manners, Customs, etc. of Some Tribes of the Aborigines in the Neighbourhood of Port Darwin and the West Coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Australia' appeared in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (J.A.I.), vol.XXIV in 1895.
'On the Manners, Customs, etc. of Some Tribes of the Aborigines in the Neighbourhood of Port Darwin and the West Coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Australia'
Foelsche's descriptions of the Larrakia and Iwaidja (Unalla) peoples were published in Curr's Australian Race, vol.1, 1886.
'The Larrakia tribe'
'The Unalla tribe'
Paul Foelsche's vocabularies of Larrakia and Iwaidja
Paul Foelsche did not claim to be a linguist, but he spoke and wrote fluently in German and English, and his policing work brought him into close contact with Chinese, Malay and several Aboriginal languages. During the early 1880s he compiled vocabularies of the Larrakia language of Darwin, and the 'Unalla' language of the eastern Cobourg Peninsula. These were published in Edward Curr's comprehensive volume, The Australian Race, in 1886-87.
Foelsche's vocabularies for download:
Larrakia vocabulary
Iwaidja vocabulary
Foelsche's Ethnographic Collections
The Aboriginal people of the Top End began trading artefacts for European commodities as soon as first contact occurred with explorers. Coastal people had already developed trading relations with the Macassan fishing fleets which visited Arnhem Land annually. Paul Foelsche assembled several collections of Aboriginal artefacts. Encouraged by the South Australian Museum, he prepared an especially well documented collection in 1890 and 1891. His original list contains the language names for individual objects, and descriptions of their precise use. This collection provides a unique insight into the 'material culture' of the Larrakia and Iwaidja peoples, as their way of life was quickly transformed through European contact. Many of the decorative items in this collection, such as headbands, neckbands, armlets and belts, can be seen in Foelsche's portraits of the Larrakia and Iwaidja people
Foelsche's 1889 Artefact Collection
A selection of Larrakia artefacts, from a larger collection which Paul Foelsche sent to the South Australian Museum in 1889. Foelsche's handwritten list below records the Larrakia terms for these objects and their precise function, matching the attention to detail which he applied to his photographic documentation.
Foelsche's list of Larrakia artefacts
The Larrakia bartered their artefacts with Europeans since the South Australians arrived 1869 and Foelsche had no difficulty in making collections for museums and collectors until the 1890s.
South Australian Museum Archives.
The following images are not to scale:
No. 5, grass necklet
No. 5, grass necklet
Mangulmah
"Made of grass stems and used by all tribes."
No. 20, string
No. 20, string
Temanah
"Made of pandanus leaf fibres 'goolimbah'."
No. 24, message sticks
No. 24, message sticks
Manmurgmah
"Sent to other tribes when wanted to come on quick."
No. 11, bag net
No. 11, bag net
Annamaganee
"Made of fibre of bark collected by natives 'lualimbar'."
No. 12, bag net
No. 12, bag net
Annaallah
"Made of fibre of bark collected by natives 'bailigimber'."
No. 21, bone piercer
No. 21, bone piercer
Monarrgee
"Bone of emu legs, used for piercing the septum of nose."
No. 25, shoulder bands
No. 25, shoulder bands
Temanah
"Made of fibre (banjan bark), used by all tribes."
No. 6, kangaroo teeth pendant
No. 6, kangaroo teeth pendant
Tanbarragee
"Worn round head by all tribes that can procure them."
No. 4, rings joined together
No. 4, rings joined together
Beenjinjukue
"Made of grass, used as head ornament."
No. 28, tassel worn round neck, hanging behind
No. 28, tassel worn round neck, hanging behind
Mangoolining
"Made of cotton, only worn by men."
No. 7, wig (false beard)
No. 7, wig (false beard)
Birraelia
"Have only seen them used by natives in neighborhood of Pt. Darwin."
No. 18, head band
No. 18, head band
Allambah
"Made of banjan tree bark fibre."
No. 14, banyan tree fibre
No. 14, banyan tree fibre
Baallingon-baalligee
"Used for making rope, string etc."
X — Foelsche's Aboriginal Portraits
A Note on Foelsche's Portraits
Like his landscape photographs, Foelsche's portraits also cast light on the photographer and his techniques. They also raise many questions about Foelsche's relationship with those sitting for his portraits – more than 260 Aboriginal individuals over a period of 15 years, from 1877 to 1891.
Sitting or Standing
Foelsche commenced his series of Aboriginal portraits in November 1877. He began by photographing people standing next to a measuring scale, following anthropological procedure. He soon found that this was unsatisfactory, as standing figures were more likely to move and blur the picture, despite his use of a metal support stand.
During the 1880s most of his subjects are seated on a bentwood-backed chair. Foelsche found that by asking people to hold their arms in a slightly crossed fashion, he could mask the presence of the chair's bentwood back. It is still visible though, in many of his portraits. While most of his subjects had never sat on a chair before, it seems to have provided a more comfortable setting.
Nakedness
Unlike many nineteenth-century photographers of Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia, Paul Foelsche didn't ask his subjects to remove clothing. In many cases, they already were unashamedly naked. This fact was commented on by prudish townspeople in Palmerston, for example. After 1880, Foelsche supplied men and women with lower garments of printed fabric, which they wore specifically for the portraits. The same garment appears in multiple portraits.
A Matt Effect
In several portraits, an individual's face seems a little darker, as though blackened slightly. Foelsche acknowledged this in a 1909 conversation with the anthropologist William Ramsay Smith. He had found that his first portraits suffered from high contrast, resulting from reflections on people's shiny faces. His solution was to ask them to apply powdered charcoal to their faces. All this suggests that, at Palmerston and Port Essington, as elsewhere, Aboriginal people may have regarded the photographic process as a mysterious rite of passage.
Estimating Ages
Foelsche's surviving photographic lists form the basis of the documentation of his portrait series. His record of people's names appears to be reliable. Their ages are his estimates though, probably arrived at by reference to key events, such as the departure of British from Port Essington (1848), or the arrival of the South Australians at Escape Cliffs (1864).
Respecting the Old People
Despite his role as a powerful police official, Paul Foelsche prepared these portraits with great care and sympathy. The people they depict all passed away several generations ago, and these images can be regarded safely now, without offending the living or the spirits of the dead.
As the Larrakia artist, Gary Mura Lee, puts it, 'we see past the measuring stick and all that it represents and we see strong, beautiful people – our people'.
Portraits of Larrakia People I
The Larrakia are the traditional owners of the Darwin region, and have maintained their cultural identity since the South Australian colonists arrived in their country during 1869.
In his 1881 paper on the Larrakia, Foelsche maintained that their numbers had not diminished since the arrival of South Australian colonists, about eleven years earlier. He estimated a population of 500, with 100 men, 120 women, 150 young people of both sexes and 130 children. The European population in Larrakia country was also about 500, but by this time the Top End's Chinese population exceeded 4,000.
Foelsche's description made it clear that the Larrakia lived in a land of plenty, with ready supplies of fish, reptiles, game, plant foods such as yams, and eggs of the turtle, geese and crocodile. They used finely made spears and spearthrowers for hunting, and elegant bark canoes, 'paddled at great speed'. Decorated woven baskets and bags were used for carrying food items. This material existence supported a rich social and ceremonial life.
By 1890 the Larrakia camps in Palmerston had begun to succumb to worsening conditions, as experienced in fringe camps elsewhere in Aboriginal Australia.
As mines, pastoral properties and townships were established the Larrakia found their social fabric and material existence under threat. Remarkably, there was little direct conflict. The Larrakia saw some material benefits in the European presence, and gradually became dependent on their commodities. By 1890, a decade after Foelsche's written description, European diseases and alcoholism were taking their toll.
Foelsche's portraits of the Larrakia evoke a period when they were still acknowledged as the traditional owners of their land, even by the Europeans who had displaced them.
1. Alligator Ned, April 1878, aged about 34
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
The trousers are prison-issue, suggesting that this man, like several Larrakia men and women from the early 1870s, had encountered the European legal system.
2. Alligator Ned, 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Artificial highlights have been added to the eyes on the original negative, possibly by William Ramsay Smith, who acquired Foelsche's negatives in 1909.
3. Elbow Davy, 1890, 34 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
The distinctive bone condition affecting his elbows enables him to be identified in the photograph of Larrakia ceremony, adjacent.
4. Squire, April 1878, aged 29
Digitally printed from 600dpi scans of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
A clay pipe is tucked into his armband.
5. Wife of Alligator Ned (nos. 1, 2), April 1878, aged about 35
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wife of Alligator Ned (nos. 1, 2), with her young child.
6. Elbow Davy, April 1878, 22 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scans of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Elbow Davy (also no.3), wearing the lambudgela brabailma, bark belt.
7. Ada, wife of Elbow Dave (nos. 3, 6), 1890, aged 25 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scans of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
8. Mary Ann, also known as Mrs Squire, April 1878, aged 28
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Probably worked as a washerwoman for Palmerston residents. Sister to Mary Ann, Daly's wife (no.13).
9. Daly, February 1879, aged about 22
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Daly, known to Palmerston residents as an athlete who won high-jumping competitions held during the 1870s. A few months after this photograph he was gaoled for murdering his wife.
10. Daly, July 1888, aged about 30
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Daly (also no.9), wearing arm tassels, armbands, necklets and head ornaments. See no. 55 for Emily, Daly's sister.
11. Tommy, May 1879, aged 60
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
12. Tom Cherry, 1887, aged 47
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
One of three Larrakia men who were taken to Adelaide during 1870, in order to be shown 'the power of the white race'.
13. Mary Ann, wife of Daly (nos. 9, 10) in November 1877, aged 25 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Sister to Mrs Squire (no.8). She worked for Europeans in Palmerston as a washerwoman, and was allegedly murdered by Daly in mid-1879.
14. Mary Ann, a later wife of Daly (nos. 9, 10), aged 21 in July 1888
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
15. Mary, wife of Old Tommy (no.11), 1890, aged 30
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
16. Mary, wife of Tom Cherry (no. 12), 22 years in 1887
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
17. Harry Coonah, 1887, aged 30
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
18. Davey Guillemaine, July 1888, aged 25
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
His chest is decorated with ceremonial designs, suggesting that a performance had been held shortly before. Davey was probably employed as a police-tracker by Foelsche.
19. Miranda, aged 35 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
This photo was probably taken in 1879, at the time of his arrest with other Larrakia men for the spearing death of 'Scotchman'.
20. Miggy, wife of Miranda (nos. 19, 23) in September 1888, aged 20 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
21. Maggy, wife of Harry Coonah (no. 17), 1890, aged 18 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
22. Nellie, wife of Davey Guillemaine (no. 18), aged 17 in January 1889
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
23. Miranda, aged 47 years in July 1888
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Now an authoritative elder, known to Europeans as the 'King of the Larrakeyas'. He was arrested in June 1887 for assaulting a policeman who ordered him out of town. His prison sentence was reduced to one month when his 'good character' was spoken for by another policeman, Corporal Stretton.
24. Maude, another wife of Miranda (nos. 19, 23) in 1888, aged 29 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
25. Big Ned, 1890, 50 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
26. Billy Harvey, 1890, 35 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
In this portrait Foelsche's practice of applying powdered charcoal to the faces of some of his photographic subjects is evident, reducing the reflection caused by the Aboriginal practice of rubbing animal fat onto the skin.
27. Nelly, wife of Billy Harvey (no. 26), 1890, aged 28
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
28. Biliamuk Gapal, 1890, 34 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Biliamuk was a prominent Larrakia identity. One of the first to actively engage with the South Australians at Port Darwin in 1869, he became a key cultural broker, visited Adelaide in 1870, and worked briefly for Foelsche as a tracker. He was also occasionally imprisoned for minor offences, and while in gaol during 1888, produced one of the drawings which was included in the 'Dawn of Art' exhibition held in Melbourne.
29. Wife of Big Ned (no. 25), 1890, aged 17
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing the sarong cloth supplied by Foelsche for the photograph
30. Mary, wife of Billy Harvey (no. 26), September 1888, aged 17
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
31. Mary Adcock, wife of Biliamuk (no. 28) in 1887, aged 27
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She appeared as a witness in the trial of Larrakia men for the spearing of 'Scotchman' in 1879.
32. Another wife of Biliamuk (no. 28), unnamed, 23 years old in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
33. Timbook, 1890, aged 30 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Timbook worked as a message-boy in Palmerston during the early 1880s and provoked a warning from the courts that alcohol should not be given in exchange for this work.
34. One of Timbook's (no.33) two wives in 1890, aged 35
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
35. Biglik, May 1879, aged about 62
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
In early 1879 Biglik (also nos. 79 and 69) was called as a witness by Foelsche in the investigation of the spearing death of a Larrakia man, Scotchman. A journalist wrote: 'the venerable Larrakeyah turned his back in disdain on the bench, and looked out onto the verandah after his youthful spouse'.
36. Sambo, April 1878, 21 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Paul Foelsche's police-tracker. A journalist observed that 'when any important capture is to be made by the police, the natives Sambo and Solomon are employed. Without their assistance the police seem powerless'. ('Northern Territory Times') In 1879 Sambo was among those arrested for the spearing of Scotchman.
37. Nelly, wife of Timbook (no.33), aged 19 in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
38. Duncan, 1890, 40 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Prominent as an athlete in early Palmerston sports days.
39. Larrakia woman, wife of Duncan (no.38) in 1890, 16 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
40. Dick, April 1878, aged 21
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a bag containing personal items.
41. Charly, February 1879, aged 18
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a bark belt and European trousers, perhaps indicating his imprisonment.
42. Jemmy, 1890, aged 23
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
His skin appears to be coated with powdered charcoal.
43. Peter, July 1888, aged 47
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a patterned sarong supplied for the photograph.
44. Mr Knight, Mangminone, February 1879, 24 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
According to Foelsche, Mangminone contracted smallpox at the age of five (well before Europeans arrived.), possibly from Malay trepang fishermen visiting the northern coast.
45. Patty, 1887, aged 23 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
46. Morris, 1887, aged 21 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
47. Whybrow Pickles, February 1879, aged 18
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Pickles crossed paths with Foelsche's police colleagues several times during following years, mostly over the possession or theft of alcohol.
48. Benham, February 1879, aged 28
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Photographed soon after his arrest (together with Davey, Sambo, Rowdy and Miranda) for the murder of 'Scotchman'.
Portraits of Larrakia People II
49. Binmuck, April 1878, 38 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Possibly a sister of a Larrakia man of the same name, who was flogged for throwing a spear at the first Government Resident, Captain Douglas, in early 1870. This man was later known as 'Scotchman', and was speared in 1879 by a group of Larrakia men including Sambo, Benham, and Miranda.
50. Kate, February 1879, 16 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
51. Emily (Mrs Babby), April 1878, 44 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
52. Harriet, 15 years old, photographed in about 1880
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
53. Mary Marsh, April 1878, 16 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche's handwritten note on the back of one of his prints reads 'use[d] to live with Miss Allen'. Probably employed as a housemaid in Palmerston.
54. Mary, February 1879, aged 16 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
'Mary' was the most common name applied to Larrakia women by Palmerston residents. Foelsche was content to use these names, rather than transcribing the more difficult Larrakia names.
55. Emily (old Bobby's wife), April 1878, aged 21 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Emily was sister to Daly (nos. 9, 10).
56. Flora, aged 15 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Probably photographed in 1879, with Foelsche's anthropometric scale.
57. Larrakia woman, 18 years, photographed in the late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
58. Mrs Pybus, 1890, 24 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Probably named after her employer, a telegraph station operator at Southport.
59. Eliza, September 1888, aged 28 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
60. Annie, 1887, aged 22 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
61. Minnie, 1887, aged 17 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
62. Mary Fry, 1890, aged 24 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
63. Topsy, 1887, aged 27 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
64. Annie, known as Blind Solomon's girl. Photographed in 1887, aged 17 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
65. Larrakia man, 26 years, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Heavily scarred, this unnamed man is wearing a kangaroo tooth headband. Foelsche wrote: 'There is no fixed rule as to how many cuts are made on the different parts of the body, but is left to the option and fancy of each individual person'.
66. Larrakia woman, 17 years, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
67. Flora, 29 years, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
68. Jimmy, 1887, 16 years old
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
May have been employed by a Palmerston man named Howard.
69. Larrakia woman, 20 years old, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
70. Larrakia woman, 17 years, probably photographed in 1888 or 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Her grass necklace incorporates glass trade beads.
71. Larrakia woman, 20 years, photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a set of shoulder bands, similar to those displayed here.
72. Larrakia woman, 20 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
73. Larrakia woman, 40 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
74. Larrakia woman, 37 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
75. Larrakia woman, 19 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
76. Larrakia woman, 21 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Her grass necklace incorporates glass trade beads.
77. Larrakia girl from Southport, 12 years old, photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
78. Larrakia woman, 24 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of a half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
No negatives survive for the following group of Foelsche's first Larrakia portraits. The photographs were taken in early November 1877, just before Foelsche sailed to Port Essington to photograph the Iwaidja people. He submitted a selection of these images to the Paris Exhibition of 1878.
79. Biglik, Larrakia elder, 60 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
He appears in the group photograph of Larrakia (no. 69), which Foelsche made in early November 1877. Foelsche made a more conventional studio portrait of Biglik during May 1879 (see no.35). Here he stands with a badly healed broken leg, perhaps steadied a little by Foelsche's metal photographic support.
80. Galandoo, about 40 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Galandoo is also included in Foelsche's photograph of ten Larrakia men and his larger group study. He is holding his spearthrower.
81. Larrakia woman, aged 23
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Larrakia woman wearing a skirt of cloth supplied by Foelsche.
82. Larrakia woman, aged 21 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a necklace of glass trade beads.
83. Larrakia woman, aged 28 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
The reason for the white powder on the feet of this woman and other Larrakia people in this series is unclear.
84. Larrakia girl, aged 10
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing necklace of glass trade beads, headband, nosepeg and cloth skirt provided by Foelsche. Also appears in children's group photograph, no. 71.
85. Larrakia girl, aged 11
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing nose-peg, chest-bands and armlets. Also appears in children's group photograph, no.71.
86. Mapimmeddy, aged 62
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
87. Lamoorar, aged 60
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
88. Larrakia woman, aged 25
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
89. Larrakia woman, aged 21
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
A clay pipe is tucked into her armband.
90. Larrakia woman, aged 38, and her child
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
The woman is blind, and we can assume that Foelsche understood that she preferred to be photographed with her child, and arranged the seat to enable this.
91. Larrakia girl, aged 11
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Also appears in children's group photograph, no.71.
92. Larrakia girl, aged 12
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of an original print , South Australian Museum Archives.
Also appears in children's group photograph, no.71.
69. Larrakia people in camp, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of an original albumen print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche took this group photograph of Larrakia people in their camp at Palmerston during early November 1877. He subsequently made individual portraits of several of the men and women, including the Larrakia elder, Biglik (see nos. 35 and 79 in portrait series), who is seated at left. Foelsche went to lengths to ensure that almost every person in this photograph is clearly visible.
70. Group of Larrakia men, 1891
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original dry-plate glass negative, R.J. Noye Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia.
Group of Larrakia men wearing ceremonial dress, posing before a public performance for the South Australian governor in 1891. Foelsche was able to collect the 'corroboree caps' worn in this ceremony for the South Australian Museum.
71. Group of Larrakia children, November 1877
Digital print from 600dpi scan of original albumen print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Larrakia boys and girls photographed by Paul Foelsche in November 1877. Four of these children also appear as individual portraits (nos. 84, 85, 91, 92).
Daly River, Marrakai, Daly Waters and McArthur River Portraits
93. Daly River boy, 17 years, probably photographed in Palmerston during the 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing kangaroo teeth headband. Foelsche recorded his country as 'Daly River copper mines'.
94. Daly River man, 22 years, 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing string bag around neck.
95. Daly River man, 20 years, 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing kangaroo teeth headband, nosebone, grass-stem necklace and armbands.
96. Daly River woman, 19 years, photographed during 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
97. Marrakai Creek man, 27 years, 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing necklet of glass trade beads. This man's country lay to the east of the Adelaide River.
98. Marrakai Creek man, 27 years, 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing necklet of glass trade beads and nosebone. By 1890, land on the Marrakai Creek had been taken up for cattle grazing. Foelsche's son-in-law, H.W.H. Stevens, managed the property for the Fisher and Lyons pastoral company.
99. Daly Waters Telegraph Station man, 28 years, probably photographed during the late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
It is likely that this unnamed man worked for the telegraph operator at Daly Waters, 600 south of Palmerston, and was photographed during a visit to Palmerston in the company of his employer during the late 1880s.
100. McArthur River woman, aged 23 years, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
This unnamed woman may have accompanied one of the coastal steamers travelling between the McArthur River port of Borroloola and Palmerston.
11. Foelsche's Aboriginal Portraits
Djerimanga portraits
Paul Foelsche referred to the Djerimanga people as the Woolner. That term actually applied to Cape Woolner, where South Australian surveyors first encountered the Djerimanga in 1864. In fact, in Foelsche's words, the Djerimanga's territory was centred on 'both sides the Adelaide River for some sixty miles up it'.
The Finniss expedition of 1864-66 clashed with Djerimanga people and at least two were killed. Three years later, the young surveyor J.W.O. Bennett was speared in reprisal, close to the Adelaide River. This event, more than any other, led to Paul Foelsche's appointment in charge of a Northern Territory police force.
For several years the Djerimanga remained on uneasy terms with the South Australians, and with the Larrakia, on whose land the new settlements of Port Darwin and Palmerston were based. The Djerimanga camped outside Palmerston at first, but gradually established a permanent presence.
Foelsche took his first photographs of the Djerimanga during November 1877. His original list identifies several individuals by name. Other observers noted that the Djerimanga and Larrakia intermarried, but Foelsche's lists, which include husband and wives, do not suggest this.
During the 1890s Emu, or Lamaby became the recognised Djerimanga 'headman'. He acted as a guide and assistant when the South Australian Governor and Edward Stirling were taken on an Adelaide River cruise by Paul Foelsche (see image no.47 in Crocodiles and river cruises -section). Emu also became the main source of data on Djerimanga language and culture for the South Australian anthropologist T.A. Parkhouse.
101. Lialloon, May 1879, aged 40
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Ten years earlier, Lialloon had been among a group of Djerimanga men who speared the surveyor J.W.O. Bennett, a member of Goyder's survey team, in a revenge killing. Part of the South Australian Government's response was to appoint Paul Foelsche in charge of the first police contingent.
102. Jemmy Millar, Ibon-Tereba, 1880, 30 years old
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Bearing marks of leprosy, and wearing handcuffs following his arrest for the murder of the Collett's Creek publican, Robert Holmes. Millar was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Eight years later, his fine pencil drawings of animals were included in the 'Dawn of Art' exhibition in Melbourne.
103. Old Davey, 1890, aged 47
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing arm and neck tassels and grass necklace.
104. Djerimanga man of the Adelaide River, about 35 years, photographed in about 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing feather head-ornament.
105. Lialloon, May 1879, aged 40
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Lialloon (also no.101), photographed in profile seated on Foelsche's cedar chair, next to a two-metre anthropometric scale. The photograph shows the extent of ornamental cicatrices applied to Lialloon's body.
106. Dummy, 1887, aged 36 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He was deaf and dumb, communicating by sign language. Employed as a deliveryman and messenger in Palmerston, his directions 'as to where and to whom he should go' being indicated by 'some peculiarity in the person' (Alfred Searcy 1907).
107. Wife of Dummy, 1887, aged 26
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
108. Djerimanga woman of the Adelaide River, 23 years, probably photographed in 1890
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
109. Davy, 1887, 47 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche's accompanying note suggested that this man died soon after the photograph was taken. Foelsche has possibly directed him to sit in this unusual pose, showing the loss of fingers from both hands.
110. Nelly, Davy's (no.109) wife, 1887, aged 15
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
The negative has suffered considerable damage, but Foelsche photographed her again, two years later (no.111). She was one of Davy's three wives, two of whom were known to Europeans as Nelly (see also nos.113, 114)
111. Nelly, Davy's wife or widow, January 1889, aged 16
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
112. Ned, 1890, aged 27
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Possibly blind in the left eye. He is wearing one leather armband.
113. Nelly, second wife of Davy (no. 109), 1887, aged 29
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
114. Polly, third wife of Davy (no.109), 1887, aged 24 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
115. Djerimanga man, aged 45
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
This photograph provides a good example of the reason for Foelsche asking his subjects to rub powdered charcoal onto their faces, to reduce the reflection.
116. Nelly, wife of Ned (no. 112), 1890, aged 14 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
117. Djerimanga woman, 36 years old
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
One of Foelsche's earliest portraits, photographed in November 1877.
118. Manbambee, May 1879, 25 years old
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
119. Nelly, wife of Looriappa (Stephen), 1887, 19 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Looriappa is seated second from left, in the November 1877 group portrait of 11 Woolna men.
120. Djerimanga woman, 20 years old. Photographed during the late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
121. Djerimanga woman, November 1877, aged 29
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
122. Mary, second wife of Stephen, 1887, aged 20 years
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
123. Djerimanga woman, aged 30, photographed during late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
124. Djerimanga girl, aged 15, photographed during late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
125. Djerimanga woman, aged 17, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
126. Djerimanga girl, aged 11, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a grass-segment necklace and cane armband.
127. Djerimanga woman, aged 18, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
128. Djerimanga girl, aged 15, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
129. Minmirrah, May 1879, aged 27
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche photographed two individuals named 'Minmirrah', and it seems that this individual is misplaced here, and was actually from the Alligator Rivers region, not the Adelaide River. The pattern of cicatrices also reinforces her difference from Djerimanga women. For another portrait of Minmirrah, see no.163.
130. Djerimanga woman, 18 years, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche made a second portrait of her, probably only weeks apart (see no.132).
131. Djerimanga woman, 16 years, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
132. Djerimanga woman, 18 years, late 1880s
Digitally printed from 600dpi scan of original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche made a second portrait of the same individual, with longer hair (see no.130).
Minnegie or Mary River portraits
According to Foelsche, the 'Minnegie or Mary River' people occupied lands to the south of the Djerimanga, 'between the Adelaide River and the Mary River some seventy miles from the coast'. Foelsche made these portraits of Mary River people during visits which they made to Palmerston in the 1880s.
133. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 20
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a headband coated with white pipeclay, a feather head ornament, grass necklace, cane armbands and a netted bag (probably containing personal items) around his neck.
134. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 22
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He appears to have a metal spike tucked into the leather armband on his left arm. He is also wearing a headband, feather head ornament, nosepeg, grass necklace and armbands.
135. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 50
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a netted bag around his neck
136. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 47
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
137. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 25
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
138. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 19
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing grass necklace and cane armbands.
139. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 18
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
140. Minnegie or Mary River girl, 1880s, aged 15
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
141. Minnegie or Mary River man, 1880s, aged 24
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing head ornament of cockatoo feathers, grass necklace and armlets of cane and cloth.
142. Minnegie or Mary River girl, 1880s, aged 14
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
143. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 20
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
144. Minnegie or Mary River girl, 1880s, aged 16
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
145. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 20
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
146. Minnegie or Mary River woman, 1880s, aged 18
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
11. Foelsche's Aboriginal portraits
Portraits of Alligator Rivers people
Paul Foelsche made portraits of about 40 people from the 'Alligator River tribes' during the late 1870s and 1880s. He defined their country as 'the country through which the East, South and West Alligator Rivers flow from the coast to some seventy miles inland.
The Alligator Rivers people began to visit Palmerston in about 1880, and this soon became an 'annual visitation'. During these visits spear-fights often occurred between Alligator and Larrakia men. In a mid-1887 encounter the Larrakia man Elbow Davy (nos.3, 6) was taken to Palmerston Hospital with a stone-headed spear wound, and several Alligator Rivers men were also speared.
147. Charly, January 1889, 47 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a canvas belt and a leather armlet, his face shows the effects of leprosy. Foelsche recorded his country as 'Coodoolagoo Alligator'.
148. Young Joey, January 1889, 27 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing leather and cane armlets. Foelsche recorded his country as 'Coonandar Alligator'.
149. Nannark, May 1879, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Among the first Alligator Rivers people to visit Palmerston. This photograph derives from an original small print; there is no surviving negative.
150. Nannaha, 48 years, probably photographed in 1879
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Probably photographed in 1879, when Foelsche produced his main anthropometric series.
151. Nelly, wife of Charly (no.147), January 1889, aged about 25 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Also from Coodoolagoo. Foelsche also made a portrait of this woman in 1883, when she was known to Europeans as Mary or Maggie (see no.176), and had not yet acquired her full set of body cicactrices.
152. Mary, wife of Young Joey (no. 148), January 1889, 19 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Also from 'Coonandar Alligator'.
153. Ballwallago, May 1879, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Photographed with Foelsche's anthropometric scale.
154. Ballwallago, May 1879, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
The second of two anthropometric studies.
155. Manningel, May 1879, 58 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
One of two anthropometric portraits (nos.155, 159).
156. Manningel, probably 1879, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Possibly a son or nephew of the older Manningel (no.155).
157. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a kangaroo teeth headband, nosepeg and armlets.
158. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 20 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
159. Manningel, May 1879, 58 years.
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Full-length anthropometric study. One of two anthropometric portraits (nos.155, 159).
160. Goahappa, probably 1879, aged 40
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
161. Alligator Rivers man, 1880s, aged 27
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing white-painted headband, grass necklace and cane armlets.
162. Alligator Rivers woman, probably 1880s, aged 33
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing chest bands, cane armlets and grass necklace.
The following group of Alligator Rivers women were among the first to visit Palmerston, accompanying their menfolk. Their nakedness was commented on by Palmerston residents who, by this time, had convinced Larrakia and Woolna women to wear clothes in the town. It is unlikely that these women had qualms about posing for Foelsche's camera.
163. Minmirrah, May 1879, 27 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche also documented this woman as of the Djerimanga group (see no. 129), but her decorative scarring matches those of other Alligator Rivers women. Foelsche made several portraits of this woman, varying his spelling of her name slightly (see no.165).
164. Mamanung, also known as Warri-imbee, May 1879, 26 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
165. Minmirrahma, May 1879, 27 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
166. Mooway, May 1879, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
167. Ballinger, May 1879, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
168. Mamanung, also known as Warri-imbee (also no. 164), May 1879, 26 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
169. Minmirraluna, May 1879, 25 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
170. Annaoka, May 1879, 34 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a necklace of glass trade beads.
171. Longandoo, probably May 1879, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
172. Alligator Rivers woman, wife of Bob Murray, a senior man, about 1880, aged 40
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
173. Alligator Rivers woman, wife of Charly (no.147), January 1889, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
From the Coodoolagoo locality.
174. Alligator Rivers woman, probably early 1880s, 24 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing cane and leather armbands, and a nosepeg.
175. Mary Ann, wife of the Wagait man, Barkley (no. 195) about 1880, 16 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
176. Maggie, also known as Mary, about 1881, aged 19 or 20
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche also photographed her in 1889 (see no. 151). By then she had married Charly (no.147) and had acquired more body scarring.
177. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, aged 19
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing cloth and cane armlets, grass necklace and string chestbands.
178. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
With cane armlets, grass necklace and string chestbands.
179. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing an embossed leather armlet on her right arm, and a cane armlet on her left, as well as a grass necklace.
180. Almarara, 1880s, 13 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
181. Alligator Rivers girl, 1880s, 15 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a leather strap as an armlet on her left arm, and seven cane armlet on her left arm.
182. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 19 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
183. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 17 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
184. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 40 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a grass necklace and armlets of cloth and strung beads.
185. Alligator Rivers woman, 1880s, 36 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a grass necklace and armlets made of cane and of leather strap.
186. Alligator Rivers girl, 1880s, aged 16
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Roper River portraits
These portraits of Roper River people were made in 1889. In April 1889 Foelsche had visited the Roper River landing and photographed the S.S. Adelaide there, but it is unlikely that he made portraits on that trip. With the exception of his early Port Essington series, all his portraits were made in his own studio in Palmerston. By the late 1880s many different Aboriginal groups from outlying regions had visited Palmerston, out of curiosity, and to assess the Europeans for themselves. The small group is composed of a man and his three wives, together with the Roper River tracker, a Woolwonga man. Their European names suggest that they may have made Palmerston at least their temporary home.
187. Bob, 1889, aged 35
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
188. Charly, 1889, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Charly, a Woolwonga man who worked at the Roper River police station as a tracker.
189. Lady, wife of Bob (no. 187), 1889, aged 35
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
190. Nannigan, second wife of Bob (no. 187), 1889, aged 25
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
191. Judy, third wife of Bob (no.187), 1889, aged 26
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Portraits of Wagait men
Wagait country lies south-west across the bay from Palmerston, on Cox's Peninsula and southwards along the coast. Members of this group began visiting Palmerston during the late 1870s. This brought them into occasional conflict with the Larrakia, although the two groups supported each other in conflict against the Djerimanga. During 1882 for example, Wagait men joined the Larrakia in attacking the Djerimanga in Palmerston itself, before Foelsche intervened, convincing them to fight outside the town.
Foelsche took these portraits during early May 1879, when several Wagait men visited Palmerston for joint ceremonies with the Larrakia. The event was parodied by the newspaper. It culminated in an address by the Larrakia man, Davy, who made a 'powerful and impressive oration, urging upon the children of their tribes to follow after the traditions of their fathers, and to take no heed of the examples set by the larrikin whites.' (Northern Territory Times, 2 May 1879)
192. Nungadee, May 1879, 29 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a headband with feathered tassels, similar to those worn by Larrakia men.
193. Wagait man, May 1879, 25 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a white headband and feathered tassels.
194. Nagdy, May 1879, 50 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
195. Barkley, May 1879, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a bark belt, headband and feathered tassels, cane armbands. He was married to the Alligator Rivers woman, Mary Ann (no.175).
196. Dall-Dall, May 1879, 27 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
197. Wagait man, May 1879, 29 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche noted that his brother, Jacky, was a prisoner in the Palmerston gaol.
198. Wagait man, May 1879, 29 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He was blind in his right eye, here wearing a grass necklace.
199. Quook, May 1879, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
One of two Waggite men with this name.
200. Kannell, May 1879, 50 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Foelsche described this man as the Wagait chief.
201. Jaylanboo, May 1879, 40 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
202. Varcull, May 1879, 47 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
203. Karook, early 1880s, probably about 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
A full-length anthropometric study of Karook, decorated in ceremonial paint, perhaps taken during joint ceremonies with Larrakia people. He is wearing a leather belt, and has a stick of tobacco tucked into his right armlets. Foelsche made a portrait of the same man, spelling his name 'Quook', in May 1879 (no.206).
204. Trebuik, May 1879, 42 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He was probably blind in his left eye.
205. Mandab, May 1879, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
206. Quook, May 1879, 26 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a painted bark belt, grass necklace, and cane armbands. He has a clay pipe and a twist of tobacco tucked into his armbands, a habit which persisted, as his later, full-length portrait suggests (no.203). Another Wagait man photographed by Foelsche was also named Quook (no.199).
207. Charly, 1890, 24 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original half-plate(wet-plate) glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a feather head-dress, headband, nosepeg, and leather armlets.
Portraits of Port Essington people
The Iwaidja of Port Essington
Two of the first British settlements in northern Australia were in Iwaidja country, on the Cobourg Peninsula, north-east of Port Darwin. The second of these settlements, at Port Essington, lasted from 1838 to 1848. When Paul Foelsche visited there 30 years later, several Iwaidja people remembered the British and understood English.
Foelsche noted that many Iwaidja (and the related Unalla people to the east at Raffles Bay) also spoke the 'Malay language'. Malay trepang fishermen had been visiting this coast annually since at least the early eighteenth century, and several Iwaidja had accompanied these fishing fleets.
By November 1877, when Foelsche arrived with his camera, photographic tent and portable darkroom, the South Australians had already established a settlement at Port Essington. A small trepang station had been established near the beach. Further inland, Paul Foelsche's friend John Lewis had established the Cobourg Cattle Company, actually 'a buffalo shooting lodge formed to provide meat to the goldfields' (Reid 1990). Both of these buildings can be seen in Foelsche's photographs, which also show the Iwaidja camp nearby. Several Iwaidja men were employed in these concerns. With their openness towards foreigners on their shores, it is not surprising that the Iwaidja readily agreed to Paul Foelsche's photographic project.
The Unalla people lived to the east of the Iwaidja, at Raffles Bay, which had been a British settlement from 1827 to 1831. According to Foelsche, a smallpox epidemic introduced by Malay trepangers in 1866 had decimated this group, so that only seven men, twelve women, nine boys and two girls survived in 1881. Visiting in that year, Foelsche obtained a vocabulary of the Unalla language, one of the few surviving records. Several of the 'Port Essington' artefacts in this exhibition were also collected from this small Unalla group.
The number of 1880s portraits suggest that Foelsche established his photographic tent at Port Essington at least once during this decade. It is unlikely that this number of Port Essington people visited Palmerston.
208. Tim Finnigan, 1890, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
An Iwaidja man of Port Essington, employed by the customs inspector Alfred Searcy, who patrolled this coast to collect duty from Malay trepang fleets.
209. Marrabury, 1885, 17 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
With a clay pipe tucked into her cane armlets. Probably photographed in Palmerston.
210. Mallaguah, November 1877, 17 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a necklace of coloured glass trade beads, a leather belt, as well as a nosepeg, string apron and woven armlets.
211. Mingee-Mingee, November 1877, 18 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a necklace of glass trade beads, chest bands, armlets and a marrawite, or bark apron, suspended on a hair-string belt.
212. Iwaidja or Unalla woman, 1880s, 23 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
Her necklace appears to be composed of glass trade beads strung alternately with grass stems.
213. Iwaidja girl, 1880s, 14 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
214. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 60 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
215. Iwaidja or Unalla man, 1880s, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
216. Possibly Bob White, Iwaidja man, 1880s, 60 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
During the 1860s Bob White, or Nullamaloo, had assisted South Australian surveyors and navigators on the northern coast. An authoritative figure among the Iwaidja, he also dealt with the British at Port Essington during the 1840s, and was a key intermediary between his people and the Malay trepang fleets.
217. Mammeah, wife of Bob White, November 1877, 22 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing the marrawite, bark apron.
218. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
219. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 25 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He appears to have a knife tucked into his belt.
220. Iwaidja or Unalla woman, 1880s, 46 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
221. Iwaidja or Unalla man, 1880s, 30 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
222. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 36 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a headband painted with white gypsum, armbands, nosepeg and leather belt.
223. Iwaidja man, 1880s, 32 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of original glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
It may have been Foelsche's intention to make anthropometric, standing portraits of Iwaidja people, but he probably understood that it was too much to expect these elderly men and women to maintain a fixed pose for the long exposures he required. They adopted their familiar sitting postures, on the canvas floor of his photographic tent.
224. Iwaidja man, November 1877
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
He does not appear on Foelsche's photographic list. Like the other Iwaidja men in this series, he is wearing the jangeenah apron of string tassels, fastened to a bark belt.
225. Hungry Jack, November 1877, 69 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
His European name suggests that he had become well known to Europeans at Port Essington.
226. Nalandoo, November 1877, 70 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
227. Berikar, November 1877, 60 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
228. Buggy-Buggy, November 1877, 65 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
229. Manuay, November 1877, 57 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing the marrawite, or bark apron, suspended on a hair-string belt, as well as string necklets and glass trade beads.
230. Nalimga, November 1877, 58 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
She has a hare-lip. Wearing the marrawite, or bark apron, suspended on a hair-string belt.
231. Armiarg, November 1877, 58 years
Digitally printed from an original print from South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing fibre necklets and the marrawite.
Foelsche asked each child in the following series to hold a stick or a spearthrower, a device intended both to animate the image and to provide a support, additional to that of his adjustable metal stand, which can be seen behind the figures.
232. Mamaregee, November 1877, 9 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing the marrawite bark belt.
233. Almarara, November 1877, 7 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a glass trade-bead necklace, and holding a spearthrower.
234. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, 6 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
235. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 7 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding a spearthrower.
236. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 8 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing a necklace of glass trade beads and holding a spearthrower.
237. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, 3 years old
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing an armlet and chest bands of string.
238. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, five years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She moved slightly during the photograph, causing blurring.
239. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, five years old
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of a (wet) plate glass negative, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is holding a spearthrower.
The following series includes portraits which Foelsche submitted to the Paris Exhibition of 1878. He is also likely to have bartered for the artefacts which appear in several of the portraits, such as the baskets, and included these in the ethnographic collection sent to the Exhibition. These particular portraits come closest to the staged ethnographic portraits which J.W. Lindt produced during the 1870s, depicting Aborigines of the Clarence River district of New South Wales. Foelsche may have been inspired by Lindt's Album of Australian Aboriginals (1875) to produce these images.
240. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 36 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
This unnamed, pregnant woman is wearing a marrawite or bark apron, and is steadying herself with a digging stick. In front of her is a pandanus leaf basket, woolangannah, of the type used to collect honey.
241. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 49 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a marrawite or bark apron, and is steadying herself with a digging stick. The decorated woven basket suspended from her head is of the type used for collecting yams.
242. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 38 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is holding a digging stick and photographed in front of a pandanus leaf basket, woolangannah.
243. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 45 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
With digging stick and basket, wearing a marrawite or bark apron, and string necklets.
244. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 5 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding a spearthrower.
245. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 6 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding a spearthrower.
246. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 4 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing an armlet. Foelsche has painted out some detail above the boy's left shoulder.
247. Iwaidja boy, November 1877, 5 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding two toy spears and wearing armlets and a necklace of glass trade beads.
The following series of portraits of Iwaidja men holding large decorated sword clubs was produced for the Paris Exhibition of 1878. The clubs served the dual purpose of steadying the subjects during the long exposures, and also provided an ethnographic context. Similar clubs, known to the Larrakia as metpahdinga, were used along the northern coast. As an example included in this exhibition suggests, Foelsche may have highlighted the designs of one club', used as a photographic 'prop'.
248. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 35 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Steadied by Foelsche's photographic stand, he leans slightly on the sword club, which is turned to display its traditional Iwaidja designs to best effect. The unnamed man is wearing the jangeenah tassel apron.
249. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 32 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
Wearing a nosepeg and the jangeenah tassel apron, and holding the same decorated sword club as no. 247.
250. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 37 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
This man has pronounced Malay features, a reminder of the annual commerce between the Iwaidja and the Malay trepang fleets. According to Foelsche, all these Iwaidja people were fluent in the 'Malay language'. This man is holding a distinctive, wide-bladed sword club decorated with traditional designs.
251. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 28 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing elbow tassels, neckband, jangeenah tassel apron, and grasping the same decorated sword club as no.249.
252. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 50 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding decorated sword club and wearing the jangeenah tassel apron.
253. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 54 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is holding decorated sword club and wearing the jangeenah tassel apron.
254. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 48 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing the jangeenah tassel apron and holding a spearthrower.
255. Iwaidja man, November 1877, 21 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
He is wearing the jangeenah tassel apron.
Port Essington portraits of women, November 1877
256. Alquralka, November 1877, 60 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
This woman is probably older than Foelsche's estimate. She is wearing a necklace of coloured glass trade beads. According to a note on Foelsche's original print, she had strong memories of the British settlement at Port Essington during the 1840s.
257. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 16 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing chest bands and a necklace of glass trade beads.
258. Iwaidja woman, November 1877, 19 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a marrawite bark apron.
259. Iwaidja girl, November 1877, 14 years
Digitally printed from a 600dpi scan of an original print, South Australian Museum Archives.
She is wearing a rather large, decorated nose-peg (perhaps made of banksia flower core), a necklace of glass trade beads, string chest bands and necklet, and a cane armlet.
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