• Title
  Item 02: Mr. Verge's, King Charlie [Aboriginal breastplate, ca. 1840-1860]
• Call number
  SAFE/R 2132a
  Status: On display. Objects Gallery. Case 1, Shelf 18
  
• Level of description
  item
• Date
  
  ca. 1840-1860
• Type of material
  Objects
• Reference code
  1069351
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  1 breastplate - brass - 7.8 x 15.2 cm
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Presumably bestowed by John Verge to the Aboriginal elder King Charlie (Ngaku language group) from the region surrounding Verge's land holding at Austral Eden near Kempsey (Macleay River district).
• Scope and Content
  Breastplate of crescentric form with five protruding central serrated peaks and a hole at each apex, the centre engraved 'Mr. Verge's / King Charlie' encircled by flourishes and surmounted by a central engraved coronet with five peaks, flanked on the left by an emu looking to the left and standing in long grass and on the right by a kangaroo in long grass and looking to the left, 7.8 high x 15.2 cm wide.
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• Published Information
  Breastplate cited in: Poignant regalia : 19th century aboriginal breastplates & images ... / Tania Cleary. Glebe, NSW : Historic Houses Trust of NSW, c1993. p. 49
• General note
  
  Digital order no:Album ID : 1091448
• Conservation note
  
  Anterior and posterior surfaces opalescent lustre, posterior surface scratched, pitted and small oxidised spots and three rows of stamped impressions.
• Name
  King Charlie (Aboriginal elder)
  
• Subject
  Breastplates--Australia.
  Aboriginal Australians--New South Wales--Kempsey.
  Aboriginal Australians--New South Wales--Macleay River.
  Politics and Government - National symbols and events - King plates
  
• Topic
  kingplates
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Poignant Regalia: 19th century aboriginal breastplates & images - Hyde Park Barracks (26 May - 4 July, 1993)
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE706128

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