The “petrified” man of Naracoorte, South Australia. An early example of nineteenth century tourist interests in Indigenous subjects

ABSTRACT

During the 1840s European colonists found the naturally preserved body of an Aboriginal man deep within the Naracoorte Caves of South Australia, which were to become a major tourist destination. As an example of a so-called “petrified Aborigine”, the calcified body became a key attraction for nineteenth century tourists to the region, prior to its theft and incorporation into a museum exhibit. This paper traces the history of the preserved body’s discovery to its eventual disappearance, and discusses the wide-ranging accounts of its origin and cultural significance.

KEYWORDS:

• Aboriginal Australians
• colonial history
• cultural heritage
• museums
• Naracoorte Caves

Acknowledgments

I thank the South East Aboriginal Focus Group for approving my initial research program and then supporting the publication of this historical narrative. Useful comments on drafts of this paper were received from Chaka Chirozva, Des Hartman, Rob Graham, Gary Toone and two anonymous reviewers. The author has also benefitted from discussions with Tom Gara, Philip Jones, Rod Wells and Elizabeth Reed.

Ethics Statement

This work derives from a Heritage Report prepared for Naracoorte Caves in 2018 in consultation with the South East Aboriginal Focus Group, who represent the Traditional Custodians of the South East of South Australia (SEAFG) and Burrandies Aboriginal Corporation. This publication was approved on 27 August 2020 by Robyn Campbell, Chief Executive Officer, Burrandies Aboriginal Corporation, who discussed it with the SEAFG and reported that we have no objection for the article to be published in the scholarly journal, the Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The name of Naracoorte was earlier written as Narracoorte. For the European history of the Naracoorte Caves, refer to Anonymous (1895), Hamilton-Smith (1986, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2006), Reed (2016), and Reed and Bourne (2013).

2. Blanche Cave has also been known as the “Big Cave”, “Old Cave”, “Mummy Cave”, “Mammoth Stalactite Cave” and “Blackfellow’s Cave”. The last-mentioned name is not to be confused with the place called Blackfellows Cave, which is located southwest of Kongorong.

3. This account was repeated again in 1926, when remembering “the death of Tiger, the aboriginal cricketer, a son of the petrified man” (Saunders, 1926a, p. 19).

4. Article republished as Anonymous (1855b).

5. Tenison-Woods is named as Rev. J. G. Woods [sic.].

6. The South Australian Institute Museum was founded in 1856, and is now known as the South Australian Museum (Clarke, 2001; Hale, 1956; Sutton, 1986).

7. Saunders (1926b, p. 14) referred to this report, and gave the bids as beginning at £10 10/, and finally being sold for £18 18/. See also J. O. Y. (1878). The dealer, John Crace Stevens (b.1809, d.1859), had premises located close to the British Museum and in London’s Covent Garden (Turnbull, 2017).

8. For a biography of Tiger, refer to Clark (1990) and Mallett (2002).