The Western Australian Museum acknowledges and respects the Traditional Owners of their ancestral lands, waters and skies.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that this digital guide may include images, sounds, and names of now deceased persons.

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Two small wooden canoes, suspended for display in the Museum.

Dugout Canoes

Kimberley, 1921

Dugout canoes were introduced to northern Australia by Indonesians. They were traded, stolen and later copied by the peoples of the Kimberley. Canoes could fill with water in rough seas, but they were faster and easier to steer than mangrove rafts. This made them safer to paddle to distant islands.  They were stronger than the bark canoes of the Northern Territory and could land turtles, dugongs and other large fish that would sink a bark canoe. This canoe is from Pago Mission near Kalumburu. The extra board (strake) along the side is only found in canoes from the Wunambal people of this area.

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Two small wooden canoes, suspended for display in the Museum.

Dugout canoes.
Credit: WA Museum

The Western Australian Museum acknowledges and respects the Traditional Owners of their ancestral lands, waters and skies.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that this digital guide may include images, sounds, and names of now deceased persons.