History of the Possum Skin Cloak

Dr Vicki Couzens

The following text is an edited selection from Dr Vicki Couzens’ PhD submission, ‘Possum Skin Cloak Story Reconnecting Communities and Culture: Telling the Story of Possum Skin Cloaks’. (Reproduced with permission)

The Possum Skin Cloak has re-emerged as a significant icon and a collective symbol of Aboriginal cultures across south-eastern Australia.

Possum Skin Cloaks tell Aboriginal stories, representing the unique and distinct tribes and language groups of south-eastern Australia. They tell stories of belonging, place, and the sacred and spiritual. The cloak is both a physical object and a symbol of knowledge. Stories of clan, kinship and Country are etched into and carried throughout a person’s lifetime through their Possum Skin Cloak.

The creation of Possum Skin Cloaks is part of the ongoing cycle of singing up Country and keeping Country strong. It generates a sense of recognition and acknowledgement of place, and leaves a lasting legacy with south-eastern Aboriginal communities and across mainstream Australia. Whilst we teach cloak-making in the practical sense, it is the experience of making and wearing; learning language, cultural stories and knowledge; and coming together in community and connecting with each other, culture and song lines that initiates a healing journey for all who join in.

In a cloak-making workshop, different generations interact. These community workshops facilitate interactions and transgenerational engagement, creating opportunities for the transference of knowledge, for listening to stories, being given responsibilities, and the strengthening of family and kinship networks. Making Possum Skin Cloaks triggers a need to find out more about them: How were they made? Where and how were materials sourced? What is our language for possums, cloaks? What ceremonies did we use them for? Who wore them? These questions, in turn, trigger the need to learn more about other related cultural knowledge and practices.

Pre-colonial Stories of Possum Skin Cloaks

Possum Skin Cloaks were a vital part of Aboriginal people’s lives in preEuropean times. Cloaks were used in daily activity, to keep warm, to sleep in and to carry babies.

To make a cloak was a very labour-intensive and time-consuming process. The skins were gathered, stretched and cured, incised with designs, and sewn together with kangaroo sinew, with some Cloaks comprising 50 or more skins.

To capture the possums, the men would seek them out in trees with hollows, where possums nest. Once ascertaining there was a possum or two in residence, the men would make notches, with a stone axe, into the lower part of the tree’s trunk. The hunter would place a rope around his waist and the tree trunk, and lean back into the rope to create tension and act as a kind of sling. He would then ascend the tree using the notches he had already cut as foot and hand holds, and make more as he climbed. Once the hunter was near the hollow, he would beat a club on the trunk or branch where the hollow was, scaring the possum out. He would club and grab it or cause the possum to fall to the ground below, where the rest of the hunters would be waiting to capture and finish the possum off. Sometimes smoke was used to ‘smoke’ the possum out of the tree.

As the skins were gathered, they were stretched and cured by both men and women. The women carried, in a small possum bag, up to 300 handmade wooden pegs that were used to stretch and peg the skin on a piece of flattened bark. Once stretched, the skins were scraped with a sharpened shell or stone implement and cured with smoke, ash and fat to make them ready for use. The skins, once prepared, were sewn together with kangaroo sinew by the women. The sinew was obtained by the men, being extracted from the tail or hind leg of the kangaroo. The sinew had to be chewed to break it down into thin threads for use in the sewing of the skins.

During the process of sewing the skins together and after the cloak was completed, the designs depicting clan and Country affiliations were incised into each skin. A sharpened mussel-shell implement was generally used, or, sometimes, a stone blade or knife. The incising process, as well as the practice of rubbing animal fat into human skin with natural body oils, made the skins more flexible for wearing. Wear and daily use also made the skins more supple. Ochres were used to colour the skins or selected designs and decorate the cloaks.

Possum flesh was eaten and roasted in fires. Whole skins were used as water carriers and storage containers. Small bags were hung around the neck to carry pegs used for stretching out and preparing skins for use. Fur was rolled with hair to make string. String and skin pieces were used to create body adornment items such as necklaces, armbands, headbands and dance belts. For sport, possum skins were sewn together to make a ball that was used in ‘marngrook’—a game of keepings off between two teams, using the feet and hands—the progenitor of modern-day Australian Rules football. The jaw bone of the possum was hafted to a wooden handle to produce an engraver, which was used to carve designs into wooden implements. Nothing was wasted.

Tradition of the Possum Skin Cloak

Each individual had a Possum Skin Cloak. As a child outgrew being carried by his mother, a cloak was made for them that was theirs from birth to death. The cloak, growing as the child grew, became their life story, a living visual biography. Skins were added and scored with markings that depicted clan and Country. Symbols were added as their life unfolded, marking pivotal events: initiatory rites of passage from childhood to adulthood, from girl to woman or boy to man; marriage; the birth of children; and so on. In this way the cloak became powerfully connected to an individual. The time spent in the gathering of resources and making the cloak, as well as their ceremonial and spiritual significance, contributed to the high esteem and economic value of Possum Skin Cloaks.

Cloaks were present at ceremonies, with their role and uses ranging from shrouds to percussion instruments. The women bundled their cloaks over their knees and used them for percussion, drumming and singing. At intertribal gatherings, the markings on the skins that displayed who you were and where you came from were especially relevant. In these ceremonies and uses, we see the importance and centrality of Possum Skin Cloaks in the celebration of the esoteric. Through the contemporary revitalisation of Possum Skin Cloaks, we see them used in many ceremonies, including newly regenerated initiatory practices.

Exchange, Trade and Economics

Whilst the cloak you wore was a personal item, cloaks were also specifically made for trade and were valuable items. They were important gifts in establishing relationships, maintaining of diplomatic relations and resolving disputes with neighbouring tribes.

Establishing a relationship with visitors is a fundamental Aboriginal protocol. The exchange of greetings, information about the visitors, informing visitors of their rights and responsibilities, and giving gifts was a common practice.

Whilst the impact of European colonisation was devastating to Aboriginal people, we sought innovative ways to accommodate dealings with the Europeans into our established systems. With the coming of these strangers, new economic opportunities arose for Aboriginal people. Cultural items were sold as souvenirs for their practical uses, and many Europeans received gifts of value such as weapons, cloaks and baskets. Possum Skin Cloaks and baskets in particular were prized for their usefulness to the Europeans who were spreading rapidly across the country.

Cloaks in Collections

There are only fifteen skin cloaks located in museums within Australia and overseas. European anthropologists collected most of the cloaks, found in museums overseas, during field trips to Australia in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

How many cloaks may have survived in private and family collections is a mystery that’s yet to be investigated. As part of the Possum Cloak Story vision of returning cloaks to community, there was a mandate to reconnect communities who have connections to cloaks held in collecting institutions in Australia and overseas.