• Title
  Item 13: Spear fragments removed from George Ernest Morrison's nose and body, 1883
• Call number
  SAFE/R 645/Item c
  
• Level of description
  item
• Date
  
  1883
• Type of material
  Objects
• Reference code
  442359
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  4 spearheads - wood - each main splinter approx. 4 cm. length
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Morrison explored the interior of New Guinea in 1883, under special commission from The Melbourne Age. His expedition was beset with various difficulties, including theft of equipment by hostile indigenous tribesmen who opposed his incursions into their territory. To discourage theft, Morrision finally shot, at long range, one tribesman who stole a knife, as a deterrent. The following day, probably in retaliation, Morrison was speared twice by different tribesmen, in the face and abdomen. The expedition was aborted and Morrision barely survived the retreat to Port Moresby. He underwent various operations back in Australia and then in Edinburgh to extract spear fragments from his nose and body. Source: Morrison of Peking / Cyril Pearl. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1968
• Scope and Content
  Thes are splinters and smaller fragments broken off from the main splinters of spearsheads
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• General note
  
  Digital order no:Album ID : 825715
  Part of the papers of george Ernest Morrison at MLMSS 312 -
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Pieces of splinter from the spear / G.E.M. -- handwritten on envelope accompanying splinters
  "Pieces of the spear taken from Ernest's nose - after N. Guinea disaster" -- handwritten on another envelope accompanying splinters
  "Splinters from the spear / November 1883 / [?] 1884" -- handwritten note accompanying the splinters
• Subject
  Spears.
  
• Topic
  wood
  
• Place
  New Guinea
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection - State Library of New South Wales
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE1632607

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