Sacred Aboriginal Artefact In Sale At The Canterbury Auction Galleries On Wednesday September 7, UK auctioneers The Canterbury Auction Galleries will sell an ancient stone Churinga, a sacred object of mystical significance to the Aborigine nation. Estimate £4,0000-6,000
while to go a-sauntering. We needn’t be sundowners. We needn’t lose our self-respect. We won’t lose our self-interest, nor will we be beggared. Let us have our saunter.
In all he wrote seven books: “Sunlit Trails: a bird watcher’s tramps and camps in Australia” (1930); A Tramp-Royal in Wild Australia : 1928-1929 being the record of a "walkabout" among the lone cattlemen and cameleers of Australia's vast and little-known central wonderland, together with notes on the Aboriginal, the physical features, and the fauna (1934); “Gone Nomad : twenty years' vagabond wanderings in three continents” (1936); “The Truth about Spain : the Spanish struggle yesterday, today and tomorrow” (1945) “William James Farrer : a biography” (1949); “Murray Walkabout” (1953). He also edited a work by his friend John Fairfax, founder of Fairfax Media and owner of the Sydney Morning Herald, titled “Laughter in the Camp”.
A signed photographic portrait of Archer Russell can be seen at http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemLarge.aspx?itemID=442084 but may be reproduced only with prior permission from the Library of New South Wales.
The Churinga in the Canterbury auction measures 10.5 by 6 inches. One side is carved with concentric circular and semi-circular ornament, the reverse with a circular panel, the whole decorated in red. It will be sold together with three small Aboriginal flint and obsidian cutting tools, and two books belonging to Archer Russell: "The Crime of the Congo" by A. Conan Doyle, and "We Find Australia" by Charles H. Holmes, both published by Hutchinson & Co, the latter in 1933. This book is annotated in Archer Russell’s hand on Page 135 next to a song about a Churinga: "Pirated from my article in the Melbourne Herald of 4th/7th 1931, this "Churinga" song was composed by myself and true to form is not really a Churinga song at all" and initialled AR. The lot is estimated at £4,000-6,000.
Viewing for the Two Day Sale at The Canterbury Auction Galleries is on Saturday September 3 from 10am to 4pm; Sunday September 4 from 12 noon to 4pm; Monday September 5 from 10am to 7pm and on the morning of the sales from 8.30am. Catalogues price £5 are available from the auctioneer or can be viewed online at both www.thecanterburyauctiongalleries.com or www.the-saleroom.com/cag, which will also offer live bidding on the Internet as the sale proceeds.
For further information, please contact the auctioneer on 01227 763337 or auctions@thecanterburyauctiongalleries.com
