Description
This is a dilly bag with lines abstractly representing its woven nature. Dilly bags were woven from pandanus plants and were used to carry food the women collected such as yams and native berries. Sometimes fish were stunned and caught by using the crushed leaves of plants such as gilbajin
placed in a dilly bag in calm water.
For many years, my grandfather, Thomas Miller, wrote the Around the Campfire column by Sundowner in the North Queensland Register. In February 1983, he wrote about “Dilly Bag Days”
saying:
“When the old ‘dilly bag days’ ended, it meant other means of transport had to be found. My stepfather and my mother and uncles would take me piggy-back in turns, with the hair on their heads as my hand grips. I therefore had a good time on walkabout, sharing delicacies such as jamboons,
nuts, yams and an occasional opossum.”
