Enmity and amity: reconsidering stone-headed club (gabagaba) procurement and trade in Torres Strait.

McNiven, Ian J.

INTRODUCTION

Torres Strait has long held a special place in anthropology and archaeology due to its strategic position between the Australian and Papua New Guinea mainlands and A.C. Haddon's 1898 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. For the most part, research interests have been directed towards documenting the selective diffusion of so-called higher cultural traits of 'advanced' Papuans to their 'primitive' Aboriginal neighbours across the Torresian divide (e.g. McCarthy 1940, 1970; see also Smith 1930, 1933). These views gave rise to the concept of Torres Strait as a 'cultural filter' for, or 'cultural barrier' to, material culture traits (Walker 1972). This paper examines one particular item of material culture which McCarthy (1940) believed exemplified Torres Strait as a cultural filter. Stone-headed clubs are found throughout Torres Strait and across many parts of Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya but not on the Australian mainland. McCarthy (1940) saw Torres Strait as the southern limit of the stone-headed club diffusionary wave and suggested (1953:259) that this limit was set by the failure of Aboriginal Australians to take on a 'useful' addition to local weaponry. However, couching discussions of the distribution of stone-headed clubs in a diffusionary framework drew attention away from questions concerning:

1. the contradictory identification of the Papuan lowlands (a region essentially devoid of stone) as the trade source for stone-headed clubs used across Torres Strait (a region abounding in stone suitable for club manufacture), and

2. the role of stone-headed clubs in social interactions, both hostile and peaceful, between Torres Strait Islanders and lowland Papuans.

While historical records indicate that stone-headed clubs (known mostly as gabagaba in Torres Strait) were traded across Torres Strait, no detailed examination of gabagaba raw material sources has taken place since Alfred Haddon's ethnographic recordings of possible quarry sites (e.g. Haddon 1900, 1935). Following recent fieldwork by the author for the 'Torres Strait Culture Site Project' (Cordell et al. 1996), this paper reconsiders these early [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED] recordings in light of new raw material data for ethnographic and archaeological gabagaba. The results of this raw material research set the scene for a reconsideration of the multiple roles of gabagaba in inter-group social relations and a reassessment of the place of ceremonial exchange in Torres Strait trading networks.

GABAGABA

Stone-headed clubs were the first indigenous Australian stone tool described by Europeans. In 1606, Captain Luis Vaes de Torres sailed through the straits that now bear his name and his assistant, Captain Don Diego de Prado y Tovar, made the following observation of Central Islanders:

...their arms are very strong bows which we could not bend and clubs of touchstone, with a handle in the middle as thick as the wrist, five quartas [1.14m] long and about forty pounds in weight, and in my opinion there is no helmet arquebuse-proof that could resist the blow (Hilder 1980:76).

In 1845, the survey vessel H.M.S. Fly visited Erub (Darnley Island) in the eastern straits and Jukes made another detailed description of these clubs:

Beside the bow and arrow, their principal weapon is a club, called gabagoob; this is a round, flat piece of stone, bevelled to an edge like a quoit, but with a small hole in the centre, into which a wooden handle is inserted. It thus becomes a most murderous weapon (Jukes 1847, I:209).

Subsequent observers agreed that gabagaba functioned as lethal weapons (e.g. Haddon 1904a:301; MacGillivray 1852, II:19; Sweatman ca. 1850 cited in Allen and Corris 1977:33; Wilkin 1904:312, 318). Gabagaba were used during inter-island feuding and fights between Islanders and their northern Papuan neighbours and it is difficult to escape Williams' (1936:266) observation that they were 'the weapon par excellence of the raider'. Landtman (1933:47) described gabagaba as 'one of the most highly esteemed weapons of the Kiwais' at the Fly River mouth. Numerous references to the use of gabagaba as weapons are found in old 'traditional' stories from Torres Strait. Kwiom, the great legendary warrior hero from western Torres Strait, was said by some to have been killed by a gabagaba (e.g. Lawrie 1970:144, 163, 101). In the Eastern Islands, Ganomi and Palai, warriors from Mer (Murray Island), killed Badwei with a gabagaba (Lawrie 1970:360-1). Numerous stories from the Top Western Islands also feature gabagaba (e.g. Boigu Island Community Council 1991:6, 88; Laade 1971:36, 50, 67, 76, 88, 90, 92, 106).

In some contexts gabagaba played important social and ceremonial roles. For example, 'stone clubs' were placed over Kwiom's body as a sign of respect (Haddon 1901:144). The gabagaba collected by Haddon from Mer in 1898 was 'used in warfare and ceremonial' (sic) (Haddon catalogue card cited in Moore 1984:96). Gabagaba were used also in dances on Mer (Haddon 1912:192) and on Erub (Melville 1847:Plate 20). Wilson (1993:154) noted that rayed gabagaba (known as seuriseuri) on Mer were 'not used in combat but reserved for use of a sorcerer or officer of the Bomai-Malu cult' (see also Sharp 1993:70-2). Haddon (1912:192) referred to the seuriseuri of Mer as 'sacred Malu clubs' and the rayed club from Yam (Turtle-Backed Island) as 'used in the ancient ceremonies'. Seuriseuri were seen as a 'peace symbol' which gave the 'bearer immunity from harm' (Wilson 1993:154). In recent times, old gabagaba are treasured family heirlooms amongst Torres Strait Islanders (e.g. Lawrie 1970:301; Teske 1986:42-3, 1987:26-7). Stone-headed clubs also had a ceremonial function among the Kiwai Papuans (Landtman 1933:47) and Marind-anim (Tugeri/Dogeri) of SE Irian Jaya (van Baal 1966:273, 483, 728, 740; Kooijman 1952).

Table 1 documents readily available information on individual gabagaba from Torres Strait. Most of the 26 examples are housed in museums in Australia and England: Queensland Museum (Brisbane), University of Queensland Anthropology Museum (Brisbane), Dreamtime Cultural Centre (Rockhampton), Australian Museum (Sydney), Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge) and Museum of Mankind (London). The single largest collection (n=10) of gabagaba was collected by Alfred C. Haddon during a visit to Torres Strait in 1888 and as head of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Strait in 1898. Three of the unhafted club heads were found following recent archaeological research in the region. Most (n=19) clubs have wooden or bamboo handles while the remaining seven clubs are represented only by the stone head.

Five major types of gabagaba can be identified in the assembled sample (see Table 1 and [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED]). Bi-convex or disc-shaped clubs represent the single largest group (n=17) and all but three are hafted. These were collected from the Western, Central and Eastern Island groups. The remaining clubs are classed as knobbed (n=3), rayed (n=4), ovoid (n=2) and axe-shaped (n=1). Knobbed clubs exhibit two or three rows of knobs and have been collected from the Western and Eastern Islands. Rayed or star clubs have a single or double row of protrusions and have been collected from the Western, Central and Eastern Islands. Ovoid clubs have been collected from the Western and Eastern Islands. The unique axe-shaped club was obtained from Mer (Eastern Island group). While no gabagaba have been collected from the Top Western Islands of Torres Strait, a rayed gabagaba was found recently on Dauan by Sabai Elisala Bigie while digging in his garden (Teske 1990:18).

HISTORICAL EVIDENCE ON GABAGABA SOURCES

Published observations on the known and potential sources of Torres Strait gabagaba have been forthcoming since Europeans first began serious exploration of the region in the mid-19th century. These range from cursory notes by sailors to the careful recordings of members of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition. Three sources can be identified from these observations:

* Trade with Papuans

* Local manufacture from Cape York stone

* Local manufacture from Torres Strait stone

Papuan imports

Haddon (1900:244, see also 1890:341) was categorical when he stated that 'most of the clubs from Torres Strait were imported from the Fly River District and Daudai [PNG mainland coast of Torres Strait]'. Indeed, this statement is consistent with most descriptions of gabagaba from the region. Sweatman (ca.1850, cited in Allen and Corris 1977:33) described disc-shaped clubs of 'dark green stone' from Torres Strait and noted 'I fancy they procure them from New Guinea where we afterwards saw many of them'. In another observation, Sweatman (ca. 1850, cited in Allen and Corris 1977:36) noted that Torres Strait Islanders obtained 'clubs' from Daudai on the Papuan mainland south of the Fly River mouth. MacGillivray (1852, II:4, 19) described 'quartz, basalt, or serpentine' clubs for Torres Strait and stated they were 'procured from New Guinea'.

General statements on Papuan trade connections are matched by references to trade connections with individual island groups. Haddon (1904b:295) noted that gabagaba 'probably' were imported to the Western Islands from the Papuan mainland. For the Eastern Islands, King (1837) noted that the Murray Islanders obtained 'clubs, headed with stone' from 'New Guinea'. Haddon (1908a: 185, 1935:182) also concluded that Eastern Islanders obtained gabagaba from Papuans. In this connection, Lawrence (1994:306) obtained oral history during the 1980s from Kadawa village located at the mouth of the Oriomo River immediately south of the Fly River mouth indicating that gabagaba were traded from the village down to the Eastern and Central Torres Strait Islands. This reference to the Central Island group matches Chester's (1870 cited in Lawrence 1994:266) comment that the 'stone clubs' he saw on Tutu (Warrior Island) had been obtained through exchange with people from 'New Guinea'.

Similarities in the range of stone club head types from the Papuan lowlands and Torres Strait is consistent with recorded trade links. Haddon (1900:244) noted that '[f]lat or biconvex disc clubs are very common' in the region taking in the 'Fly River Valley and the mainland of British New Guinea facing Torres Strait'; a finding borne out by Swadling's (1983:102) recent synthesis of club heads for the region. This pattern matches the dominance of disc-shaped club heads across Torres Strait. Ovoid, rayed and knobbed (including pineapple) types have been recorded for the Trans-Fly area (lower Fly River across to the Irian Jaya border) (Crawford 1981; D' Albertis 1880; Grottanelli 1951; Swadling 1983:102; Williams 1936:416). A single oval-shaped club head with bevelled ends (axe type) has been recorded from the middle Fly River area (Swadling 1983:103). All of these types are known for lowland peoples of SE Irian Jaya (van Baal 1966:22; Heider 1970; Kooijman 1952; Swadling 1983:102-3). The only type found along the Fly River which has yet to be documented for Torres Strait is 'cog-wheel' or disc-shaped club heads with notches that 'merge with star clubs' (Swadling 1983:102)[ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED].

Despite the wide range of historical information identifying the Papuan lowlands as the primary source of Torres Strait gabagaba, only two museum gabagaba support this pattern. Haddon (cited in Moore 1984:52) noted that the disc-shaped club (#89+137) he collected from Mabuiag (Jervis Island) in 1888 was stated to have come from 'Dogeri men' (Marindanim) who inhabited the southeast comer of Irian Jaya between the Bensback and Digul Rivers. The Australian Museum register entry for the Yam (Central Group) disc-shaped gabagaba (#E.10808) collected by Cox in 1902 suggests it was traded from the Morehead River (Lawrence 1994:445). Williams (1936:102, 415-16) recorded that the Morehead River people 'imported' clubs from their northern Suki/Wiran neighbours of the lower Fly River who in turn obtained clubs 'from higher up the Fly River'. These suggestions are consistent with the lack of suitable tool stone sources throughout the southern Papuan lowlands (Haddon 1935:365; Landtman 1933:45; Pretty 1965:124; Swadling 1983:103. Curiously, Lyons (1922:146) documented the movement of stone-headed clubs (and axes) in the opposite direction from the northern Torres Strait coast northwards to the upper Morehead River district. Van Baal (1966:699) believed the Marind-anim obtained clubs (and axes) from peoples of the 'Fly river district as well as from the interior'.

Cape York quarries

Although Aboriginal people from mainland Australia have never been recorded manufacturing or using stone-headed clubs, it is known that Torres Strait people from the Central Islands obtained stone for the manufacture of gabagaba from islands off the east coast of Queensland. Haddon (1935:88, 394) was informed that men from Aurid (Aureed Island), Massid (Yorke Island), Damut (Dalrymple Island) and Paremar (Coconut Island) in the Central Island group canoed up to 300km south to the Forbes Islands off the east coast of Cape York to quarry stone for the manufacture of club heads (Fig 1). Laade (1969:39, 1973:159) obtained oral testimony in the 1960s that Central Islanders from Waraber (Sue Island) and Paremar travelled around 600km south to Lizard Island for 'clubstone'. Further support for these claims comes from Thompson (1939:82) who was informed, presumably by Cape York Aboriginal people, that 'the people from Torres Strait came frequently in big canoes to Mitirindji (Quoin Island)' located immediately south of the Forbes Islands 'to obtain supplies of stone for their axes'. All of these statements are consistent with Stokes' (1846, II:256-7) observation of a group of 'natives from the Torres Strait' on Restoration Island near Princess Charlotte Bay (see also Haddon 1935:112) and Sweatman's observations from around 1845-47 (Allen and Corris 1977:24, 79) of Torres Strait Islanders in 'canoes' as far south as Sir Charles Hardy's Islands located 40km north of the Forbes Islands. Despite these references, no gabagaba manufactured from Cape York stone have been recorded to date.

The manufacture of gabagaba by Central Islanders is consistent with recordings of large granite grinding grooves on Yam (Haddon 1935:76; Vanderwal 1973:173). While Haddon (1935:76) speculated that the grooves may have been used to make axes, he also suggested they would have been suitable for shaping club heads, a fact he thought might have 'contributed to the superiority of the Yam-Tutu warriors over those of the other islands'.

Local quarries

The Cambridge Anthropological Expedition obtained information in 1898 that stone for some clubs used in the Western and the Eastern Islands came from the Top Western (also referred to as Northern) Island group - Saibai, Dauan (Mt. Cornwallis Island) and Boigu (Talbot Island). Haddon (1912:191, see also 1935:76, cf. 1904b:294) noted that while Wilkin obtained information from Mabuiag that stone club heads came from 'Dauan, Saibai and Mer', he added that 'I do not believe that they were made in the later two islands, but there may have been a factory on Dauan'. In fact, Haddon (1912:192) obtained an ovoid club head from Mer known as nigir gabagaba which was 'made of nigir stone, which is said to be found in Dauan' (Fig 2f). This suggestion is consistent with archaeological evidence for a stone tool quarry site on the island (Vanderwal 1973:182). However, Haddon and Rivers (1904:153, 155) recorded that one of the five totems on Saibai was Goba meaning 'a stone that was used for making stone-headed clubs', suggesting a local quarry source or an association with Dauan Island. In this connection, Haddon (1935:46; see also Hamlyn-Harris 1913:5-6) documented a large (200kg) rock on the island said by locals to have fallen 'from Heaven' and for a short period to have been burnt to remove fragments specifically for the manufacture of club heads. While examination of the rock reveals it is igneous and not a meteorite (Hamlyn-Harris 1913:6), it may have been imported by canoe as Saibai exhibits no 'natural' igneous rock outcrops (Barham and Harris 1987:96; Willmott 1972). This hypothesis is plausible as Barham and Harris (1987:94) document a large, 1m-wide 'black stone' on Saibai which locals said was imported from Dauan by out-rigger canoe and used as an anvil for 'smashing up of bisi (cassava)'. The manufacture of gabagaba on Saibai and Dauan is consistent with grinding grooves on both islands (Department of Environment Site Card DX:A5; Teske 1990:19).

Landtman (1933:45) was told by villagers at 'Mawata' on the Papuan coast between the islands of Saibai and Daru that coastal Papuans obtained club heads (along with stone axes and adzes) from Torres Strait Islanders who obtained the raw materials 'principally from the bottom of the sea, by diving'. However, references to a submarine source seem peculiar given that terrestrial rock outcrops would be easier to access and quarry. Is it possible that the idea of 'diving' for rocks was a deliberate attempt by Islanders to mislead Papuans for the purposes of either protecting their stone quarries by keeping their location secret and/or exaggerating procurement effort to increase the stone's value in the eyes of the non-maritime Papuans? In this connection, Harding (1967:139-40) recorded that pot traders across the Vitiaz Strait deceived certain trading partners by claiming pots were natural objects obtained from the seabed with great effort, thus increasing their value (see also Sahlins 1974:285).

It is surprising that no gabagaba in ethnographic contexts have been collected from the Top Western Islands despite evidence for local quarries. The ovoid gabagaba (#Z.9647) collected by Haddon on Met in 1898 is the only ethnographic example stated specifically to be made from niger stone which is found on Dauan. The only other ethnographic gabagaba (#Z.9812) of local manufacture was also collected by Haddon on Mer in 1898. He reported that the disc-shaped club head was made from 'fine-grained volcanic ash and coloured black so as to resemble the ordinary dark stone of which club-heads are made' (Haddon 1912:192). The catalogue card for this artefact at the Cambridge University Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology records the raw material as 'local volcanic ash' (Anita Herle, pers. comm. 1997).

GEOLOGICAL SOURCING OF MUSEUM GABAGABA

Geological information on raw materials and possible sources of raw materials used to manufacture gabagaba was obtained from examination of eight ethnographic and three archaeological gabagaba held by the Queensland Museum and University of Queensland Anthropology Museum in Brisbane. All items were identified by Friedrich yon Gnielinski (Geological Survey of Queensland) who had undertaken geological research in Torres Strait (e.g. von Gnielinski et al. 1998). In most cases, the surface examination of gabagaba (supplemented in some cases with use of a x10 hand lens and a x64 binocular microscope) allowed sourcing only to major island groups.

Ethnographic gabagaba

All of the eight ethnographic gabagaba were manufactured from rocks known to outcrop within Torres Strait (Table 1). The gabagaba from Moa is made from granite available within the Western and Central Islands. The Western Islands is also the likely source of four of the ignimbrite and andesite gabagaba from Erub. Another ignimbrite gabagaba from Erub belongs to a general class of Torres Strait Volcanics that includes the Western and Top Western Island Groups and Mabudawan on the south Papuan coastline. The remaining two Erub gabagaba are made from volcanilithic sandstone (a coarse-grained sedimentary rock consisting of cemented fragments of volcanic rock) outcropping in the Eastern Islands.

Archaeological gabagaba

In 1889, a year after returning from Torres Strait on his first trip, Haddon presented his initial recordings to the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Commenting on the potential of finding gabagaba in archaeological contexts, he noted that '[i]t is unlikely that any ... will be found, as they were of great value, and were not likely to be lost or thrown away' (Haddon 1890:303). Over the last 25 years numerous archaeological site surveys and excavations have been undertaken across Torres Strait (Barham and Harris 1983, 1985, 1987; Harris et al. 1985; Moore 1979; Rowland 1985; Vanderwal 1973). Despite the wide range of cultural remains which have been recorded, Haddon's predictions have been vindicated as only three archaeological gabagaba (all broken) have been found by researchers - two on Mabuiag and one on nearby Pulu Islet. As with the ethnographic gabagaba, the three archaeological gabagaba were made from raw materials available within Torres Strait.

During his survey of Mabuiag in 1972, Vanderwal (1973:180) was given half a disc-shaped gabagaba which had been found locally. The club head clearly is of bi-convex form with an hourglass-shaped hafting hole (Fig 2d). The catalogue card for the artefact at the Queensland Museum records the raw material as a 'type of granite', either 'adamellite or diorite'. Vanderwal (1973:181) was informed by W. Palfreyman (a geologist with local knowledge of Torres Strait) that this raw material is 'not foreign to Torres Strait'. Subsequent examination of the gabagaba confirms that it is made from a fine-grained form of Badu Granite (adamellite) which is found across the Western Islands (Table 1).

The second Mabuiag gabagaba is currently housed within the Goemulgau Kod (Mabuiag Keeping Place) and was found by the author on an old village site while visiting the island in 1996. The surface find is one half of a crudely-shaped, knobbed club head with the remains of an hourglass-shaped halfing hole and six rounded knobs aligned evenly into two rows (Fig 4). In its complete form, the gabagaba would have exhibited two rows of eight knobs (16 knobs in total). The raw material is volcanilithic sandstone which outcrops in layers on selected islands in the Prince of Wales group, southwest Torres Strait (Table 1).

While surveying the ceremonial (kwod) site on Pulu Islet in 1972, Vanderwal found a small edge fragment of what appears to be a bi-convex, disc-shaped gabagaba (Vanderwal 1973:180). The artefact is also made from fine-grained Badu Granite found across the Western Islands (Table 1).

DISCUSSION

Torres Strait quarries and diffusionist assumptions

The overall impression gained from historical information on the origin of Torres Strait gabagaba is that most were obtained through trade from Papuans to the north. Yet of the 15 Torres Strait gabagaba with origin/source information, only two have been identified as Papuan imports. The remaining 13 clubs, including the three archaeological examples, are made from stone available within Torres Strait. While I acknowledge that the study sample of 26 Torres Strait gabagaba is small, available sourcing information indicates that local manufacture was much more significant and varied than previously thought. It is now clear that knobbed, disc and ovoid gabagaba were manufactured by Torres Strait Islanders. The status of rayed or star-shaped club heads remains unknown. Significantly, the new sourcing information points to potential quarry sites in the Western Islands, particularly in the Prince of Wales Island group, not documented in the historical or archaeological literature. It is now clear that gabagaba were manufactured from a wide range of raw materials found mostly in the Western, Top Western and Eastern Island groups. This pattern is reflected by the fact that most of the 26 museum gabagaba were collected from either the rocky Eastern (n = 12) or Western (n = 10) Island groups while only four gabagaba have been provenanced to the sandy Central Island group. The historical status of Dauan as a specialised place of gabagaba production and/or raw material quarrying is questioned by recent sourcing results.

Fundamental to any discussion of gabagaba origins is the reliability of references to Papua as a trade source. Vanderwal (1973:172, 185) questioned the accuracy of Sweatman's (ca. 1850) and MacGillivray's (1852) evidence and suggested that the Top Western Islands (particularly Dauan) may have been the 'New Guinea' source for Torres Strait gabagaba. That Sweatman may have simply been inferring a 'New Guinea' source is indicated by his statement: 'I fancy they procure them from New Guinea where we afterwards saw many of them' (ca. 1850, cited in Allen and Corris 1977:33). However, it is possible that the Papuans who traded gabagaba to the Central and Eastern Islanders obtained raw materials and/or gabagaba originally from the Top Western Islanders. Landtman (1933:45) makes it clear that coastal Papuans obtained club heads from Torres Strait Islanders. Furthermore, coastal Papuans were in a position to work stone into gabagaba as Landtman (1933:45; see also Pretty 1965:127) also recorded that they obtained grindstones from Mabudawan, the only major rock outcrop along the mainland coast (Willmott 1972). As such, gabagaba manufacture from Mabudawan stone should not be ruled out given that the granite is similar in form to that outcropping on Dauan Island - a known club source. Whether or not some or all of these possibilities are correct, I suggest that Torres Strait was the raw material source for most gabagaba used by Torres Strait Islanders and their immediate neighbours across the Papuan lowlands.

Why historical recordings appear to have over-emphasised the Papuan lowlands as the actual source of Torres Strait gabagaba is perplexing. Some of the answer may reflect inherent assumptions on cultural trait/item diffusion. The diffusionist paradigm, which was fundamental to 19th century constructions of indigenous peoples of Australasia (e.g. Blaut 1993; McNiven and Russell 1997), held Papuans as culturally superior to Torres Strait Islanders who in turn were superior to 'primitive' Aboriginal Australians. As such, items of material culture seen as advanced among Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal Australians were automatically seen to have diffused from New Guinea (e.g. Wood 1870; Worsnop 1897). These views extended into this century as Haddon (1935:396) stated '[t]here is little in common in the social and material culture between Melanesia and the Torres Straits that cannot be accounted for otherwise than by direct transmission from the former to the latter'.

McCarthy (1940) developed this diffusionist view most boldly when he detailed the movement of over 100 advanced material traits/items from New Guinea into Torres Strait and Australia. Given these views, and the fact that New Guineans, unlike Aboriginal Australians, were long known as major users of stone-headed clubs, it is easy to see how many 19th and early 20th century observers saw Torres Strait as the southern and lower edge of stone-headed club distribution and diffusion. For some 19th century observers, such as MacGillivray and Sweatman, the diffusionist paradigm may have implicitly underscored an assumption that Papua was the source of Torres Strait gabagaba. In some ways, diffusionism also helps explain Haddon's views on Papua as the main gabagaba source for he certainly assumed that the 'cult' of ritual stones diffused from Papua, through Torres Strait and into Australia (Haddon 1935:368). Furthermore, he also assumed that the Eastern Islanders obtained advanced cultural traits from Papuans:

When they first arrived they must have been in a relatively low state of culture, but desultory communication with the natives of the estuary of the Fly kept them in touch with the outer world and provided them with canoes, weapons, feather ornaments and the like (Haddon 1935:414).

However, I suspect that Haddon's ideas on gabagaba sources also reflected his failure to grasp the broader social dimensions and nuances of Torres Strait trade arrangements and what I refer to as the 'gabagaba paradox'.

Gabagaba paradox

A clear contradiction exists within historical records on gabagaba sources - gabagaba are claimed to have been traded from the Papuan lowlands, an area essentially devoid of stone suitable for club manufacture, into Torres Strait which is well endowed with stone sources suitable for club manufacture. This contradiction is exemplified most clearly by Haddon, who made numerous references to Papua as the gabagaba trade source, yet also reported that apart from the outcrop at Mabudawan, '[t]he whole southern area of British New Guinea ... is alluvial land and there are no local rocks or stones' (Haddon 1935:365). Apart from problems of logic, this contradiction is at odds with the general conclusion that the Torres Strait trade system primarily moved goods plentiful in one area to areas where the same goods were rare (Lawrence 1994:285, 336). Some of this apparent anomaly may relate to the southern Papuan lowlands acting simply as an intermediate trade link between northern Papuan club manufacturing areas (e.g. upper Fly River and upper Digul River regions) and Torres Strait. However, the paradox remains of how and why Torres Strait Islanders obtained gabagaba from Papua given they manufactured their own gabagaba.

I suggest that the gabagaba paradox resulted from the movement of these items backwards and forwards between hostile groups by means of looting and ceremonial exchange. In terms of the former, Haddon (1912:191) mentioned that gabagaba could be obtained by 'trade or loot' but failed to elaborate on the latter. As inter-island warfare was 'endemic' (Moore 1984:36) in Torres Strait, numerous opportunities would have existed for gabagaba to be taken as 'loot' (see Wilkin 1904). Furthermore, hostile interactions between Torres Strait Islanders and Papuan mainlanders involving the Marind-anim from Irian Jaya and Kiwai Islanders from the Fly River mouth venturing into the northern parts of Torres Strait on head-hunting raids (van Baal 1966:699; Finch 1977:33; Haddon 1935:254, 1936:xxiv; Lawrie 1970:143; McFarlane 1888:106-7; Mullins 1995:146-48; Swadling 1996:177; Wirz 1933) and Islanders crossing over to the Papuan mainland (Gill 1876:207; Haddon 1908b, 1935:348; Hunt 1899:12; Huxley 1936:257; MacGillivray 1852, II:44-5) provided numerous opportunities for gabagaba looting. Indeed, the gabagaba collected by Haddon from Mabuiag in 1888 may have been obtained in this manner as it came from 'the Tugeri' (Haddon 1912:191; Moore 1984:52). The potential for looting is illustrated well by Rev. S. McFarlane (1888:107) who was told of a particular raid where the Marind-anim abandoned fifteen canoes after being intercepted by Saibai warriors. Lawrie (1970:43-47) also recorded a local story from Dauan where Kiwai raiders lost a number of canoes following a headhunting raid. These observations are consistent with van Baal (1966:23, 717) who noted that the Marind-anim obtained their stone clubs 'through trade and robbery'. Therefore, looting provides a plausible means whereby Torres Strait Islanders could obtain from Papuans, gabagaba which had been made from Torres Strait stone.

While looting and abandonment of gabagaba during raids is a straightforward contributor to the gabagaba paradox, exchange in gabagaba between hostile groups is less so. In a discussion of Marind-anim raiding into the Trans-Fly area, Haddon (1935:254) observed '[b]ut along with all this hostility, and at the same time, went a certain amount of friendly connection. Everything could not be got by robbery and so recourse was had to friendly barter'.

In another example, local missionary E.B. Savage (cited in Wirz 1933:108) observed on one occasion in the 1880s that the Tugeri 'exchange[d] ... all available things [they] had with them' when visiting Saibai. This seemingly incongruous situation is matched by the Rev. Archibald Hunt who worked on Mer in the late 1880s. He was informed by 'several of the oldest natives on the island' that the Murray Islanders would mount raids to the 'Fly River district' with weapons, including 'clubs', which had originally been 'procured from the Fly River natives' (Hunt 1899:12). Wirz (1933:110) also saw the enigma of trade between rival groups in the study region:

From these [raiding] camps the men [Marind-anim] would sally out, mostly alone to the inhabited territory, to surprise workers on the plantations or even whole villages and capture heads. But these were not the only tactics of the head-hunters. From both sides, the Tugeri as well as the Papuans of the British coastal territory, I was convinced that they sometimes came as good friends, always bringing something or other to barter with them (Wirz 1933:116).

Therefore, in the broader social context of hostilities between groups, sporadic trade events 'made for peace between peoples' (Haddon 1935:350). However, the existence of this peace trade does not answer the question of why Torres Strait Islanders would have desired gabagaba from Papuans. Critical here is Wilson's (1993:154) observation that gabagaba could serve as a 'peace symbol'. Within the broader context of utilitarian trade, gabagaba could have moved backwards and forwards between groups as they featured in ceremonial exchange events aimed at cementing social ties between hostile groups. This dual role as lethal weapon and peace symbol would have mirrored the 'enmity and friendship' (Wirz 1933:107) - the two sides of the same coin - which brought hostile groups together from Torres Strait and the Papuan lowlands. Ceremonial exchange explains why Torres Strait Islanders would in certain situations receive gabagaba of Torres Strait manufacture from Papuans as the items were part of the alliance process which led to peace, however short-term, for utilitarian trade to take place. Obviously, some of this trade also involved the movement of gabagaba or gabagaba raw materials from Torres Strait to the Papuan lowlands. By way of comparison, Williams (1936:167-68) recorded that 'economically...senseless' exchanges of identical food items between groups of Trans-Fly Papuans was understandable only in terms of 'cementing' friendly relations between inimical groups. A similar explanation may account for the curious movement of stone-headed clubs up and down the Morehead River. Therefore, the gabagaba paradox reflects a complex mix of looting, utilitarian trade and most importantly, ceremonial exchange.

Confirmation of the important relationship that existed between ceremonial exchange and social alliance amongst Torres Strait Islanders is revealed by Kennett's 1867 observation of an exchange event on Keriri (Hammond Island) where local Kaurareg people cautiously met a party of their northern hostile neighbours from Badu (Mulgrave Island). Significantly, gabagaba featured in this interchange:

In the morning peace was conducted in a formal manner. The Bardoolegas [Badu people] camped at the extremity of a long beach, and the Korraregas placed themselves on the beach about a mile off. The Korraregas painted hideous figures on their bodies and ornamented their persons with shell and other finery; then seizing their weapons advanced in battle array. Every now and then they rushed into the sea on one side, or into the scrub on the other, emerging with terrific yells. As they approached their former adversaries, they formed themselves into a long column; the Bardoolegas then rose and walked forward slowly to meet them. The leading Korrarega, Chemorri, then brought a plaited grass belt at the end of a four-pronged spear and offered it to the chief Bardoolega. It was accepted, and then each Korrarega advancing in turn brought a present of a spear, throwing stick, tomahawk or glass bottle. This done, the Bardoolegas in their turn presented gifts to the Korraregas, bows and arrows, stone-headed clubs, seed necklaces and tortoiseshell, and the ceremony of peacemaking, or as the Korraregas called it, 'giving the belt', was concluded by a grand corroboree (cited in Moore 1979:248-9).

The exchange of weapons to cement social ties is also reflected in stories from the Top Western Islands. On Dauan, Laade (1971:11) recorded that the great legendary hero Kuiam and Usuru (a Boigu man living on the Papuan coast) 'made friends by exchanging their weapons'. That such an exchange had symbolic value is indicated by Laade's (1971:11) comment that '[t]he question of how Kuiam and Usuru, after exchanging their weapons, could still go to war and successfully fight with arms which they were not used to handle (Kuiam had always used his spear and spear-thrower; Usuru bow and arrow) threw the informants into utter confusion and they did not even try to find an answer'.

In more recent times, possibly earlier this century, a party from Boigu went across to the Papuan coast to make friends with a Marind-anim raiding party (Boigu Island Community Council 1991:121-5). Upon meeting the raiders, one of the Boigu men 'gave them the gifts of friendship. He gave the tomahawk to the Thuger head warrior to show that he had come in peace'. Seeing the Boigu men now had no weapons, the Marind-anim raiders attacked and in the violent struggle, Garuge managed to grab the tomahawk and kill one of the raiders. Garuge then laid 'the tomahawk on the dead man's chest and said for all to hear. "Take it. The tomahawk is really yours. We gave it to you to make you our friend"'.

Rethinking ceremonial exchange and alliance in Torres Strait

The view that ceremonial exchange was important in cementing social relationships across Torres Strait adds a new dimension to previous discussions of Torres Strait trading networks. Haddon's (1904b, 1908a, 1935) and Lawrence's (1994) authoritative studies documented trade items and trade links and emphasised the functional aspects of utilitarian trade. While I agree that 'ecological inequalities' and 'social, political and cultural factors' (Lawrence 1994:289, 336) were central to structuring trade linkages (ie. what goes where), it is now clear that more attention needs to be given to anomalous or non-economic trade patterns (e.g. gabagaba trade from Papua) and how social alliances were achieved between hostile groups to allow utilitarian trade to take place. It is in this context that the ceremonial exchange hypothesis advanced in this paper provides a more nuanced reading of Torres Strait social relationships and trading networks.

Apart from the Trans-Fly region, gabagaba ceremonial exchange has parallels with social alliances developed around warfare and exchange across other parts of Melanesia such the Highlands (e.g. Feil 1984; Healey 1978, 1990; Hughes 1977; Sillitoe 1979) and northern and eastern coastal areas (Lipset 1985; MacIntyre 1983a, 1983b; MacIntyre and Allen 1990; MacIntyre and Young 1982:212; Schwartz 1963; Young 1971). In particular, MacIntyre's (1983a) research in the southern Massim provides clear ethnographic parallels with Torres Strait. Here, '[w]arfare and trade were two major forms of extended interaction and the boundaries of alliance and enmity were constantly shifting' (MacIntyre 1983a: 133). Formal acts of 'peace-making' between groups using valuables and utilitarian items were carried out with much tension as 'appeasement' parties often came armed and prepared for battle (MacIntyre 1983a:164). Wirz's notes on Marind-anim raiding/trading parties and Kennett's record of an exchange event on Keriri (both cited above) accord with the Massim situation.

While the Torres Strait trading network, like other coastal Melanesian trading networks, mostly involved subsistence/utilitarian items (Allen 1982; Lawrence 1994:336), it is clear that selected items/valuables were 'vital to the ordered functioning of the internal exchanges within systems' (Allen 1982:202). In certain situations in Torres Strait, gabagaba, and possibly other items, took on a ceremonial mantle to facilitate trade networks by helping to maintain peaceful alliances among otherwise hostile groups. However, such a view does not deny that utilitarian trade also helped cement social ties (Lawrence 1994; see also Healey 1990:350).

The fact that Haddon failed to explore ceremonial exchange is not altogether surprising given that his fieldwork and most of his writings preceded the seminal texts of Malinowski (1922) and Mauss (1925). He did, however, grapple with the concept of ceremonial exchange when trying to understand the 'anomalous' giving of 'presents' such as bird-of-paradise plumes, dogs teeth and bows and arrows that accompanied the purchase of canoes by the Meriam (Eastern Islanders) from Kiwai Papuans (Haddon 1908a: 186). Significantly, these 'presents' were differentiated from cone shell armlets (wauri) which were the 'recognised price of a canoe'. Following the complex status of gabagaba outlined in this paper, Haddon's observations, like those of Kennett (see above), indicate that other weapons (utilitarian objects) such as spears and bows and arrows could also be co-opted on occasion as ceremonial exchange 'presents'. Suggestions that the ceremonial/utilitarian exchange status of items may be dynamic, complex and blurred has been a focus of recent anthropological discussion (e.g. Appadurai 1986; Hoskins 1989; Weiner 1992) and presents major methodological challenges for the identification of these functionally fluid items in archaeological contexts.

Post-contact changes

Some of the confusion surrounding gabagaba origins may reflect chronological changes in trading networks in the wake of European colonial activity over the last 150 years. Lawrence (1994; see also Beckett 1987) identified numerous changes in trading networks associated with the introduction of European items, the establishment of colonial administrative centres on Daru and Thursday (Waibene) Islands, and the imposition of customs regulations. When the effects of the pearling industry are factored in (Ganter 1994; Mullins 1995), restructurings in trading networks are not surprising. In the case of stone artefacts, reductions in demand would have been associated with the introduction of European items (especially iron), and in the case of gabagaba, a cessation of inter-group fighting brought about by missionaries and the colonial government after 1870 (Lawrence 1994:365; Mullins 1995). Indeed, the fact that pacification was one of the first consequences of colonial rule may account for our lack of understanding of the role of gabagaba in pre-contact social arrangements (for similar conclusions on kula/kune exchange in the Massim region, see MacIntyre 1983a, 1983b; MacIntyre and Young 1982:212).

However, it is clear that gabagaba were still desired and possibly manufactured after the breakdown in trading networks and the cessation of head-hunting raids. For example, it is interesting to recall the disc-shaped gabagaba collected by Haddon on Mer in 1898 which was made from local volcanic ash. That Haddon felt the gabagaba was a recent aberration is indicated by his belief it 'probably...was made for dance purposes' (1912:192) and his more general conclusion that gabagaba were 'not made...by the Miriam [Murray Islanders]' (1935:76, 88). Haddon's recording is matched by Wilson's (1993:154) recent documentation of a sandstone gabagaba made on Mer 'about 1976' for 'dance performance' or 'for sale or presentation'. In both these cases, the gabagaba were manufactured from softer and poorer quality local stone, were not made as weapons, and dated to the period when trading networks had been severely disrupted. These features may also help explain the sandstone gabagaba found recently on Mabuiag. It too is made from a poor quality local stone which would have greatly reduced its effectiveness as a weapon. While the age of the gabagaba is unknown, it most likely has a post-contact age given its recovery from the surface of an old village site which is covered with broken glass and iron fragments dating to the late 19th/early 20th centuries. These three examples all suggest that post-contact disruptions to inter-group relations resulted in a breakdown of specialised gabagaba production (most likely centred on Dauan) and stimulated, at least until the early parts of this century, a diversification and localisation of gabagaba production for local social/ceremonial use. Within the broader anthropological literature, this conclusion has parallels as Hughes (1977:213) noted that certain Highlanders (PNG) would simply make their own 'work axes' from local stone when imported axes became scarce. Similarly, Chagnon (1983:149-50) documented that certain Yanomamo villages who obtained pottery through a specialised trading network simply started making their own pots when trade alliances broke down. In a related sense, Burton (1989:260) recorded how certain Western Highlanders (PNG) imported stone axes from specialised production centres despite the fact that they possessed similar stone sources suitable for axe manufacture. McBryde (1986:79) also notes the lengths the Wathaurong of Victoria (SE Australia) would go to obtain stone axes from the famed Mt William quarries despite possessing 'functionally equivalent' stone in their own territory. Thus, specialised manufacture of certain goods for trade may have little to do with variations in 'natural' resources and more to do with social relations and variations in social resources.

Another example of post-contact changes in gabagaba production may be the use of Cape York quarries. Moore (1978) argues that expeditions by Central Islanders down the east coast of Cape York were not a traditional practice (cf. MacGillivray 1852, II:3). Alternatively, he suggests they were a response to the many European shipwrecks along the Great Barrier Reef which provided iron which was highly desired by the Islanders for manufacture into tools. If this is the case, such voyaging is consistent with the hypothesis of diversified local production of Torres Strait gabagaba in the post-contact era as most Central Islanders lived on sandy cays devoid of stone. Furthermore, it is also consistent with Eastern Islanders moving into gabagaba production as Haddon (1935:88) reported that the Miriam-le (Murray Islanders) obtained '[Cape York] stones for clubs' from Aurid. Laade (1969:39, 1973:159) was also informed that Central Islanders traded Cape York 'clubstone' to the 'Murray Islanders'. Ironically, this new avenue for local production was associated with stone procurement voyages that far exceeded the distances travelled by gabagaba traded from lowland Papuans or other Islanders.

CONCLUSION

Previous archaeological investigations of Torres Strait have tended to focus on broader issues of island colonisation and understanding the origins of the so-called 'horticultural frontier' (Harris 1995). Although Vanderwal (1973) identified the development of 'trade relationships' as a major archaeological research question for Torres Strait, he felt that the paucity of historically-known trade items recovered during his surveys and excavations precluded meaningful insights to be made in this regard. Furthermore, Vanderwal and subsequent researchers found flaked tools and stone axes suggesting movements of items between islands and between Torres Strait and the Papuan mainland which were seen simply to reflect historical trade links (Barham and Harris 1987:19, 94-5; Vanderwal 1973:181-2, 184-5). In this sense, our archaeological knowledge on the development of Torres Strait trading systems has advanced little beyond White's (1971:187) observation that they were 'the end of a long tradition' (cf. Harris 1979:104-5).

The investigation of gabagaba sources in this paper reveals that archaeological remains and even museum ethnographic items may not follow generally accepted constructions of historic trade arrangements. A re-assessment of historical information indicates that other mechanisms for moving items around, such as looting and ceremonial exchange, need to be considered more carefully in archaeological contexts (see Keeley 1996:126). Alternatively, preliminary raw material sourcing of ethnographic and archaeological gabagaba indicates that Torres Strait was the major source of tool stone. This re-oriented view on raw material sources challenges simplistic and distorted perceptions by Europeans of the Papuan lowlands as the major source and allows a more nuanced reading of oral testimony on gabagaba exchange.

It is clear that archaeological research is at a stage in Torres Strait where detailed sourcing of stone artefacts (flaked tools, ground axes/adzes and gabagaba) will yield new insights into trade/exchange relationships for pre-contact times and perhaps even for the period after European colonisation. For this reason, work has begun on geochemical and petrographic characterisation of stone axes, gabagaba and rock outcrops from the region. Investigating possible chronological changes in the movement of stone will be an important aspect of this research and will present challenges for the recovery of artefacts from datable contexts. At this stage, the most obvious hypotheses on chronological changes in artefact use are the post-contact diversification of gabagaba sources (including the use of Cape York stone) and the abandoned manufacture of the extra-large, 'ceremonial' axes of Kiwai Island well-before European contact (Landtman 1927:187).

The complex role that stone tools such as gabagaba and axes played in inter-group social dynamics provides new scope for investigating both long-term trends in both the movement of cultural items/traits and the establishment of social alliances between the various islands of Torres Strait and between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea. Apart from answering questions of local culture history and contributing to broader debates on trade and exchange, this information will help shed further light on the long-standing question of Torres Strait's cultural place as a 'bridge or barrier' (Walker 1972).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks to the Mabuiag Island community for permission to visit culture sites and for the loan of the gabagaba from the Goemulgau Kod (Keeping Place) for study. My visit to Mabuiag Island was made possible by the efforts of Judith Fitzpatrick and John Cordell, co-researchers with the Torres Strait Culture Site Project, and a National Estate Grant through the Heritage Branch, Queensland Department of Environment. Special thanks to Friedrich von Gnielinski, Geological Survey of Queensland, for the identification of gabagaba raw materials. Information on ethnographic gabagaba was kindly provided by Michael Quinnell and Richard Robins (Queensland Museum), Sue O'Connor, Jim Smith, Annabelle Stewart-Zerba and Leonn Satterthwait (Anthropology Museum, The University of Queensland), Anita Herle and Mawuena Quayson (Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) and Michael O'Hanlon and Jill Hasell (Museum of Mankind, London). Permission to reproduce photographs of gabagaba was granted by the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Queensland Museum, and The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum. Tony Sagona assisted with preparation of figures. Helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper were kindly provided by Bruno David, Judith Fitzpatrick, Garrick Hitchcock, David Lawrence, Martha MacIntyre, Michael Quinnell, Glenn Summerhayes and two anonymous referees.

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