Mead’s Manus

US anthropologist Margaret Mead collected several Manus Island artefacts, three of which are on display at Sydney’s Australian Museum.

Neck Ornaments collected by Margaret Mead. Westpac Long Gallery, Australian Museum, Sydney.

When Margaret Mead died in 1978, she was considered one of the most famous — and indeed controversial — women in the world. An American anthropologist, she caused a sensation in the 1920s with her exploration of adolescent sexuality. As a result of her ethnographic fieldwork, her book, Coming of Age in Samoa, published in 1928, was a bestseller and was translated into many languages.

Mead’s work in Samoa, when she was aged just 24, has been credited with influencing the 1960s sexual revolution and the feminist movement. She was, however, not without her critics. Another anthropologist, Derek Freeman, was also controversial with his attacks on Mead. He regarded her account of Samoan sexual activities as a slur on that culture’s morality and questioned the veracity of her informants. He outlined his criticisms in books such as The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead.

After Mead finished her Samoan research, for her second project she focused on Manus Island, one of the Admiralty Islands in Papua New Guinea. In 1928, accompanied by her second husband and collaborator, Reo Fortune, she made her first trip to the island and settled in Pere village. Despite problems with the language, she found Manus Island so congenial that she visited many times during her long ­career.

While on Manus, Mead started collecting the local artefacts. Three of those objects, neck ornaments traditionally worn by warriors for protection and success in warfare, are currently on display at Sydney’s Australian Museum as one of its 200 Treasures.

At the museum, the director and chief executive, Kim McKay, and I stand before these war charms, which date from the 1920s. She explains that they were tied to the back of the neck by a cord to ensure the carved wooden head faced outwards, so it could look at any people behind.

The long feathers attached to the neck ornaments fanned out horizontally under the base of the skull. “It was quite an aggressive thing,” McKay says. “It’s like: ‘I’m watching you and I’ve got my back covered’.”

McKay says that Mead was particularly interested in bodily decoration and displays of dominance, both of which are evident in these neck ornaments.

“For me these works are significant in many ways,” she says. “Firstly, the story of Margaret Mead is an interesting one, and a controversial one in museums, and so for us to have some objects that she collected I think is part of that interesting story. The work she did is part of the history of the region and we can’t just reject it out of hand and ignore it. You have to acknowledge it for what it was at the time.

“Also, for me, I always show visitors these objects because Manus Island is so much part of the political discussion. We look at it as just being a place with this refugee centre, and yet these objects give an insight into the deep culture of the islands. These islands have a tradition of proud warriors and today men in the Admiralty Islands still wear similar neck ornaments in ceremonial performances.”

Neck Ornaments, collected by Margaret Mead, Admiralty Islands, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea, 1928.

Australian Museum Pacific Collection. Acquired 1989. On display, Westpac Long Gallery, Australian Museum, Sydney.