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large woven basket in natural fibre with traditional circular motif

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Basket from Coleraine

"This basket was made using our traditional Gunditjmara stitch and would of had possum or kangaroo skin strips to place around their hips or over their shoulders". Gunditjmara Elder

This basket is from the Coleraine area which was the land of the Konoonwootong Gunditj people. There were several massacres known to have occurred on this country. There were survivors whose descendants are still living on Gunditjmara country.

For more information see Dr Ian Clark's book Scars in the Landscape: A register of massacre sites in western Victoria 1803-1859, AIATSIS, Canberra, 1995, pp. 145-155.

For a map of the massacres that took place in Victoria follow this link. http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/indigenous-stories-about-war-and-invasion/4994/massacre-map/

Functional object - Woven basket (AH896), Gunditjmara Elder (weaver), c. 1800s, Koorie Heritage Trust

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Basket from Coleraine
Maker Unrecorded, Coleraine area, Gunditjmara country

Film - Dr Rob Hely (editor), 'Aunty Connie Hart Teaching Basket Weaving', c. 1990s, Koorie Heritage Trust (Oral History Collection)

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Film - Dr Rob Hely (editor), 'Aunty Connie Hart Teaching Basket Weaving', c. 1990s, Koorie Heritage Trust (Oral History Collection)

Aunty Connie Hart: You must have speargrass. Bullrush is definitely no good. So you loosen your stitch, and you come in the back, just through the back and twists on the side and hold it there.

Community Member: Hold it there?

Aunty Connie Hart: Yes. That’s a long one. That’s a nice one. Take it right down, about there and put that into your tail… Don’t let your grass split on you. Down through there. Now shove that… Always shove that finger there, up the back. Now keep that thumb in the middle – now see it won’t twist? And there she is.

0.58

Aunty Connie Hart: See you hold it in this hand, in your left hand and with your working grass hold it there like that. … and then come under and pull it - keep your fingers straight. And then you go all over that until you come to that piece sticking up …. see what I mean? So you go round, that’s to make your centre like that. Once you’ve gone around, push this back like that, just push it back out of the road. And leave it there and then you come into your stitch here, see your stitch here? Come in there. Take it into your stitches. You don’t have to go down into the big circle any more.

2.00

Aunty Connie Hart: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… Wait on we missed one. This one here.

Community Member: Oh I missed that little fell-, oh yes I missed that.

2.19

Aunty Connie Hart: You need a piece to work on this. Oh yes I’ll just put that one in … and that will fill that space up. Then you come into the stitch.

Community Member: Oh under the tail and into the stitch.

Aunty Connie Hart: Yes that’s to stop you going slanty and your work will come up straight in the end. …

2.39

Aunty Connie Hart: I was always one for sitting among the old people and learning. I wished I’d learned a lot more. But they were too cunning too. If you asked too many questions, that’s it. You got nothing told to you. They were strict. Yeh they were strict. Told you nothing. Told you to run away and play.

3.03

Aunty Connie Hart: Well you can get four or five pieces on that, just this width… That’s why I like that grass. So you’re working with that width hey.

See so hold your finger there so it won’t go away from you. Keep your stitches close together.

3.29

Community Member: You learned by just watching?

Aunty Connie Hart: Yeah. Just by watching her. And when I used to go to Framlingham Mission, I used to go to school up there with all those other girls from up there.

My father was a shearer. And I learnt – watching the old people.

Community Member: Just watching?

Aunty Connie Hart: Just watching. You ask them, could you do a stitch? No. You couldn’t. Couldn’t touch their baskets. They were strict. So I am lucky to learn. I reckon I am … pick it up by watching.

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In this video, highly respected weaver and Elder Aunty Connie Hart (1917 - 1993) gives a precious insight into her skills in basket weaving and talks of her experiences.

Film - Uncle Sandy Atkinson (producer), Dr Rob Hely (editor), 'Aunty Linda Turner Weaving a Basket' (OH189), c. 1990s, Koorie Heritage Trust

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Film - Uncle Sandy Atkinson (producer), Dr Rob Hely (editor), 'Aunty Linda Turner Weaving a Basket' (OH189), c. 1990s, Koorie Heritage Trust

[Silent film, no dialogue]

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Elder Aunty Linda Turner walks along a riverbank near Lake Tyers searching for grasses to begin making a basket. She cuts some pieces and sits down and begins weaving.