PastMasters

12/06/2026

The history of a wavy-bladed sword, bought at a Brisbane gun show around the end of the 1980s, begins with Moro raiders resisting Spanish colonists in the Philippines, but may also include Admiral Lord Nelson.

12/06/2026

12/06/2026

A beautiful shot of the Darwin wharf (Stokes Hill) 1896, and another labeled ‘Jetty at Darwin Harbour 1890’ though not sure where this is located. Suggestions?

11/06/2026

The Wessel Islands harbour many secrets, not the least being the back story to this extraordinary rock art painting of an outrigger sailing vessel in a remote rock shelter on the cape. Who were the sailors and what were they doing in Australia? The image is very faint to the naked eye, but after we performed the ‘D-Stretch’ shown here it was clear that we were looking at evidence of non-Macassan culture contact. This is a kora kora from eastern Indonesia and it differs significantly from the Macassan praus used by the 18th century trepang fishermen, and is easily differentiated from European sailing vessels. This craft is typical of Maluku coastal communities like Ternate and was used to defend their waters against foreign invaders and was frequently deployed in seasonal raids of plunder on other islands. More details, including Yolngu oral history, can be found on our website.

11/06/2026

It’s International Archives Week!

Archives connect us to the stories, experiences and decisions that have shaped our communities. At Library & Archives NT, we care for archival collections that span from today back to the earliest days of European settlement in the Northern Territory. The oldest collection in our archive is a notebook relating to the Port Essington settlement, kept by John McArthur (Jnr) and dated from 1838.

Our unique and irreplaceable records are used every day for a wide range of purposes, from helping someone prove their identity for a passport application, to providing historical detail for books, films and research projects.

Archives preserve the stories of those who came before us, while also capturing the moments that will help future generations understand our lives today.

This International Archives Week, we’d love to hear from you. Have our archives helped you uncover a story, solve a mystery or connect with your past? Share your story in the comments.



Image:
[Extracts], LANT, NTRS 862, McArthur John (Jnr), Notebook relating to the Port Essington settlement, circa 1838-1850.

10/06/2026

Based on a 1493 decree by Pope Alexander VI, the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided the non-European world between Spain and Portugal. The line was adjusted in the Saragossa Treaty in 1529 and it split Australia into two, theoretically giving rights to Portugal in the west and Spain in the east (as shown in this 1849 map). When the British arrived in 1788, they used this line, the 135th meridian, as the western boundary of New South Wales, and a later adjusted line was chosen as the Western Australian border. The Yolngu community of Milingimbi in Arnhem Land lies right on the old global boundary. If you step one foot towards Maningrida, you’re in Portugal. One foot towards Galiwin’ku and you’re in Spain. Imagine that!

09/06/2026

Sad to report the passing of our friend and colleague of many years, Timothy B. Dhurrkay, the distinguished Wangurri (Yolngu) elder from Elcho Island in northeast Arnhemland. Inspired by his Dinggu (cycad) Dreaming, Timothy made a significant impact on the development of homelands—creating fruit and vegetable gardens to facilitate the ‘back to country’ movement. He was also a major player in the Black Crusade which emerged from the Elcho Island Christian revival of the late 1970s with its strong nationwide reconciliatory agenda. He is deeply missed.

09/06/2026

Fascinating cultural insights here from Murray Island.

08/06/2026

Among the earliest evidence of China’s trade with the wider world is housed at the site of an ancient tomb, now a museum in the port city of Guangzhou. A gold seal verifies the tomb’s inhabitant as the second ruler of the Nanyue Kingdom, established more than two thousand years ago. It was customary for the Han Chinese to dress the dead in jade shrouds sewn with silk in the belief that the sacred stones would prevent the co**se from decay. Amazing as the reconstructed piece is, it’s the funerary items found near the king’s coffin that are of most interest. They show early trade as far as Africa and the Middle East including jewelry of Persian design and craftsmanship, ivory tusks from East Africa and Frankincense from Arabia and the Horn of Africa. The remains of the king’s palace, as well, preserves the remnants of an ancient boat-dock, and the Nanyue Palace Garden exhibits distinctly Indian influences in its design. Although there is no evidence, one wonders if the Nanyue Kingdom knew of Australia.

07/06/2026

On average we receive about 900,000 views of our posts each month and the comments we receive are often the inspiration for new posts. So keep them coming! Last week we learned of the extraordinary travels of adventurer Ludovico di Varthema (1470-1517). Ludo was born into the noble class in Bologna in Italy and is remembered today as one of the first non-Muslim Europeans to enter Mecca. This was a challenging period for in 1502 Vasco da Garma had massacred the passengers of a Mecca pilgrim ship and there was much suspicion directed towards Europeans in the Muslim world. But it is Ludo’s 1510 account of his travels in Damascus (where he converted to Islam, adopted the Arabic name Yunus, and joined a Mamluk garrison), Yemen, Persia, India (in the wake of the battle between the Portuguese armada and the Zamorin at Cochin), Sri Lanka (where he climbed Adam’s Peak, shown here), Bengal, and especially in the Spice Islands just north of Australia (to see the source of the ‘glorious spices’) that is so riveting. From northern Sumatra, he hired a pair of sampans (flat-bottomed boats) from Christian Chinese merchants and, after fifteen days, reached Banda, then the world’s only source of nutmeg. From there, he sailed north for twelve days to the clove island which he called Monoch, presumably Ternate and Tidore.
Given that the distance between the Indonesian islands of Timor and Tanimbar and north Australia is considerably less than the width of the Mediterranean Sea, is it any wonder that canons, swivel guns, mortar and pestle sets, old clay jars, and Kilwa coins have been found on our northern shores? Ludo’s book, translated into English, is entitled ‘The Itinerary of Ludovico Di Varthema of Bologna from 1502 to 1508.’