jun 1, 2474 BC - Ground-edged axes, trade routes, and hafted axes appear
Description:
Ground-edged axes appeared in the archaeological record in south-eastern Australia and were used with handles (hafted) or hand-held. This style of axe, known as a mogo by the Gadigal (one of Sydney’s traditional language groups), was used as a tool to make nawi (bark canoes) as well as to cut wood, hunt or build shelters. Usually made from strong igneous or metamorphic rock, they were traded across nations from sites that had quarries of suitable material. By comparing the composition of axes heads to quarries, the origin of an axe can be determined.
Research shows that trade routes of up to 200 km were not uncommon and one axe head in the museum’s collection travelled 1000 km from its source site. In Sydney the axes would be shaped on the sandstone near waterways. Grinding grooves, used to sharpen and shape axes, were located close to water, as water was needed to counteract the heat caused by the friction when grinding.
In the late 1830s, in the northern Sydney beachside suburb of Manly, an Aboriginal man presented a hafted axe to a six-year old girl. The Manly mogo is one of only two complete examples of pre-European hafted axes from the Sydney region to have survived. It remained in the girl’s family for nearly 160 years before it was donated to the Australian Museum in 1996. It is currently on display in the 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum exhibition in the Westpac Long Gallery.
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