item details
NameDrum stick
Productioncirca 1980s?; Papua New Guinea
Classificationmusical instruments, drumsticks
Materialswood
DimensionsOverall: 95mm (length), 19mm (depth)
Registration NumberFE012527/2
Credit lineGift of Wendy Smith, 2010
Overview
This is a drum stick from Papua New Guinea.
A Nurse in the Pacific
This drum stick is asscoaited with a slit gong that once belonged to Wendy Smith, a nurse who worked for the Red Cross movement both in New Zealand and overseas for about 21 years. She began working in the Pacific region in 1979, and was in Tonga when Tropical Cyclone Isaac devastated the Ha'apai group of islands in 1982. The cyclone, killed six people, and left 45,000 homeless. Wendy along with colleagues offered several hundred family packages to those devastated by the cyclone.
Aquisition History
This drum stick is part of a small collection of objects associated with Wendy's career that she gifted to Te Papa in 2010.