Recipients of plates

During Macquarie’s time as governor, breastplates were bestowed on Aboriginal people (usually men) who were perceived to be influential. Recipients had a diplomatic function, as intermediaries between Europeans and the broader Indigenous population. Macquarie insisted that only he could bestow plates. After he left the colony, other prominent Europeans continued the practice.

Among the first to receive recognition were highly skilled guides and trackers, or those who had shown exceptional bravery, in saving a person’s life, for example. The National Museum of Australia holds a plate awarded to ‘Timothy, Chief of Merricumbene’ for rescuing shipwrecked people off Batemans Bay in the 1840s.

Highly skilled stockmen who played key roles on pastoral stations sometimes received plates. Towards the end of the 19th century, breastplates were also given on the sometimes false assumption that the recipient was ‘the last of the tribe’. The creator of the collection held at the National Museum, Edmund Milne, presented one such plate to Coomee Nulunga in 1909.