Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T04:13:49.862Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Possum Skin Cloak – Being Warmed by Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

Muriel Bamblett*
Affiliation:
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Adjunct Professor Muriel Bamblett, CEO the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, VACCA, 139 Nicholson St., East Brunswick, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. E-mail: vacca@vacca/org

Extract

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.

Type
Editorial Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkinson, J. (2013) Trauma-informed services and trauma-specific care for Indigenous Australian children. Resource Sheet No. 21. Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar