Article type: Commentary
1 September 2014
Volume 39 Issue 3
Article type: Commentary
1 September 2014
Volume 39 Issue 3
The Possum Skin Cloak – Being Warmed by Culture
Muriel Bamblett1 *
Affiliations
1 Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Correspondence
* Muriel Bamblett
Contributions
Muriel Bamblett -
Muriel Bamblett1 *
Affiliations
1 Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Correspondence
* Muriel Bamblett
CITATION: Bamblett M. (2014). The Possum Skin Cloak – Being Warmed by Culture. Children Australia, 39(3), 1921. doi.org/10.1017/cha.2014.15
Abstract
For me, wearing a possum skin cloak is as foreign an idea as it is to non-indigenous Australians. But I know, from stories told by Elders and old photos, that possum skin cloaks are part of my heritage as a Koorie person. We wore them inside-out – with the warm fur on our skin during the cold winter days and nights. And that was how we kept warm for over 40,000 years.