Historical information

Lined with brown silk 189.5 x 13.3cm

After European settlement in 1788 Australian Fur Seals were hunted intensively from 1798 until 1825 for meat, oil and their skins. The growing Industrial Revolution called out for oil which was readily sourced from seals along with their valuable fur. Indigenous people had been sustainably harvesting seals for their meat and their skins .and the European sealers often coerced or kidnapped Aboriginal women for their knowledge of hunting seals. After 1825 the seal population had been decimated and therefore the hunt was no longer economically viable, but it wasn’t until 1923 that the Australian Government legislated to stop the hunting of seals altogether. In the time of the Amess family residence on Churchill Island it was perfectly legitimate to shoot any seal that interfered with fishing and furs were tanned and lined with fine fabrics to create items of apparel. Seal fur has a soft velvety feel when stroked in the direction of growth. This stole being quite narrow compared with the length would have been wrapped a few times around the shoulders and being lined with silk would have felt quite luxurious.

Significance

This seal fur stole was owned by Janet Amess (nee Straughan), wife to Samuel Amess and owner of the Churchill Island Farm from 1872 - 1929. She passed this item through the generations until it reached the donor, Unity.

Physical description

Band of seal fur backed and trimmed with brown silk.