How were possum skin cloaks made?

Answer 1

Possum skin cloaks were made by Aboriginal people in the south east of Australia, including Victoria, NSW, south east Q/land and South Australia. Possum skin cloaks were made from the common brush tail possum and sewn together with kangaroo sinew. Children through to adults had a possum skin cloak. skins were added as you grew. Mothers carried their babies and young children shared their parents or siblings cloaks. People were most often buried in their possum skin cloak. they were also important trade items. The men would cut footholds in to the tree trunks with stone axes(the men had to make the stone axes first) climb the trees and knock the possums on the head. the men and women would skin the possums and stretch the skins out onto bark sheets with wooden pegs. then the skins were scraped with stone or shell scrapers. once the skins were cleaned they would be tanned with wattle bark and other kinds of tanning agents depending on the area where you lived. the men would have to hunt the kangaroos and take the sinew from the tail and hind leg to make the threads for sewing the skins together. the sinew had to be chewed into this threads. the sinew was dampened again to keep it pliable for sewing. the women would sew the skins together and then the men or women would decorate the skins with designs and patterns, again with stone, shell or bone engraving tools (which, again , are hand made). the designs and decorations on the skins tell about the clan, family and country of the cloak wearer.