Possum-skin cloak

Alexander Harris describes one as follows from his personal knowledge in the early 1830s: ... the opossum [of a large species] trapped by the wandering shepherd for amusement, as he follows his flock along by the woodside, furnish the material for a blanket [or cloak, to use the phrase of the country] of the most luxurious, furry softness.

Sixty-three [9 x 7] of these skins are the stated complement for one blanket or cloak; when made it is large enough doubled to envelope a tall man completely beyond head and feet.

[2]They are also reasonably common in accounts of the gold rush period of the mid-19th century, but gradually became rarities, and restricted to observations of Aboriginal people encountered on the margins of white settlement.

In addition, white missionaries and others were very efficient in the distribution of clothing and blankets to Aboriginal communities which, over a few generations, caused the tradition of possum skin cloak making to die out.

[3] The Krowathunkooloong Keeping Place, a museum of the Gunaikurnai nation in Bairnsdale in regional Victoria, also has possum skin cloaks on display; in the Gunai language they were called batha maruk.