Aboriginal Bark Canoes of the Murray Valley by Robert Edwards

Aboriginal Bark Canoes of the Murray Valley

by Robert Edwards

Rigby Limited, 1975, [First Edition], colour plates, b/w photographs, illustrated end-papers, hardcover, dustjacket, ISBN 0851794122

Very Good Condition, minor shelf wear to dustjacket

'Along the Murray River and its tributaries, it is possible to find old gum trees which bear canoe-shaped scars.  These "canoe trees' are memorials left by vanished tribesmen who cut out strips of bark for making into canoes.  Like all the artefacts of the Australian Aborigines, these canoes were deceptively simple products which nevertheless were precisely suited to their makers' needs.  When white men attempted to copy these seemingly casual craft, they were unable to master the art of stripping a carefully shaped piece of bark from a tree, fastening it at both ends and using it for fishing or transportation.'