Painted souvenir Aboriginal coolamon : Alice Springs, 1942

Elongated oval coolamon or food carrier, carved from bean wood. The curved base of the coolamon is decorated in oil paint with a bush scene depicting a kangaroo, emu, a pair of Aboriginal men with boomerang and spear, a kookaburra, flora and a native axe. The inside has been carved out to made a hollow shape, and 'PC 1942' has been marked in ink on the top.

Painted and carved bean wood souvenir artefact sold by an un-identified Aboriginal craftsmen in Alice Springs in 1942. This artefact and the two accompanying it (see REL36106 and REL36108) were purchased by a group of Australian nurses travelling to or from Darwin in 1942. There was a huge movement of people - servicemen and women as well as residents evacuated from Australia's northern towns and cities - passing through Alice Springs during this period. There is evidence of resident and displaced Indigenous individuals and groups selling painted or carved artefacts to travellers along this route, as well as along the main east-west route via the Nullarbor.