Information about the exhibit
- Ethnic affiliation: Australians
- Place of creation: Australia
- Geographical localization of the place of creation: Australia
- Material: shell
- Technique: handmade
- Size: length – 6 cm, width – 4 cm
- Date of creation: 2010s
- Collector: private individual Pale Sofia Yevgenyevna (1976-2024)
- Period of use: 2010s
- Use: household interior item
- Condition: good
- Keywords: Australia, peoples of Australia and Oceania
Historical and cultural commentary
The tiger cowrie shell cypraea (lat. cypraea tigris, cypraea tigris) lives along the equator around the world and is widely used in traditional crafts worldwide. The kangaroo – a symbol of Australia, which together with the flightless bird the emu – another symbol of the country, appear on the national coat of arms.
Kangaroos and emus are endemic to Australia, both cannot move backward, only forward, so in 1912 Australia as a dynamically developing state officially adopted a coat of arms with depictions of the kangaroo and the emu. The country’s unofficial motto – «Advance, Australia!» («Forward, Australia!») remained on the first version of the coat of arms from 1908 to 1912. The national anthem, composed in 1878 and officially adopted in 1984, is called «Advance, Australia Fair!» («Advance [develop], beautiful Australia!»).
