Kangaroo Tooth Lacerator

[Ron Anderson]

I'd like to share something unusual from my collection – a Kangaroo Tooth Lacerator.

This is something many Europeans may never get to see. Actually, most Australians don't know much about this particular item either. The basic implement is called a Taap knife. Generally these have a stone blade and are just a simple cutting tool, but this example has a bit more bite. The teeth in these are (I believe, anyway) kangaroo, though on the Queensland coast they have been known to use shark's teeth.

The 'cement' in which these teeth are placed is actually kangaroo dung. This is hard as anything and these teeth are very firmly in place.

These weapons haven't been used at all in about a 100 years. Most Australians have never heard of them. The two examples in the Australian Museum in Sydney were collected in 1905. I think this example is at least that old or older. The handle is stone cut and it is really smooth through all the handling.

This item item was exclusively a weapon for fighting, which is unusual it seems among indigenous Australians. Most weapons were primarily tools or hunting weapons.

The idea of this nasty piece of work is to slash it at the face of your opponent. Not a deadly weapon, but certainly able to help you make a point.