Breastplates

Poonipun breastplate.
Amity Point, North Stradbroke Island.

Inscription on breastplate:

POONIPUN
OF
AMITY POINT
WAS REWARDED BY THE GOVERNOR,
FOR THE ASSISTANCE HE AFFORDED WITH SEVERAL OF HIS COUNTRYMEN,
TO THE SURVIVORS OF THE WRECK OF THE STEAMER ‘SOVEREIGN’
BY RESCUING THEM FROM THE SURF UPON MORETON ISLAND,
ON THE 11TH OF MARCH 1847,
UPON WHICH MELANCHOLY OCCASION 46 PERSONS WERE DROWNED
AND BY THE AID OF THE NATIVES 10 WERE SAVED

Read about The wreck of the steamer 'Sovereign'.

Aboriginal breastplates, also known as king plates, gorgets and brassplates, were given by Europeans to individual Aboriginal people during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Originally governments awarded breastplates to individuals in Aboriginal communities who they believed had control over their community.

By the 1850s the government had lost control over the awarding of breastplates, and the rare distinction of having one awarded by government changed, with pastoralists often awarding them to Aboriginal people who served them well in any way.

Terms used on the inscriptions of breastplates, such as king, queen, princess and chief are not part of Aboriginal cultures.

The sizes, shapes, materials, inscriptions, decorative features and reasons behind awarding breastplates vary.

A crescent was the most dominant shape they were made, but squares, circles and other shapes were also used. Originally plates were made of lead, but this later changed to brass.

Breastplates whether seen as a symbol of dispossession and the mistreatment of Indigenous people at the hands of European invasion, or as a symbol of the survival and resistance of Aboriginal people, are a reminder to all of the complex history and stories that are part of Australia.