Barbed two-piece spear, probably from northern coastal Australia. Hardwood barbed section is inserted into main bamboo shaft. The join is made with beeswax or resin and bound with fibre string. The wooden barbs are cut from the solid and are long and thin; there appear to be ten or eleven on these. The form of these barbs suggests an Arnhem Land derivation.<BR> Indications are that the collector, Salomon Müller, did not visit Australia, but did visit Koepang, in West Timor, where he may have obtained Australian Aboriginal spears during the 1840s, for example. British ships used that port, and it is quite possible that Australian spears were brought there and exchanged for other 'curiosities'. If so, the likely collection date of these spears may have been during the 1840s, coinciding perhaps with the British presence at Port Essington, for example. This spear type is consistent with that locality, in Iwaidja country. Object not yet examined (PGJ)