Aboriginal clubs were designed for a variety of uses; beyond skirmishing and warfare, they were employed in hunting, digging, toolmaking, and ceremonial contexts. They also took a range of forms, from straight, almost featureless shafts to dramatically beaked and curved shapes. Typically used in conjunction with shields in battle, clubs often doubled as throwing weapons and could be deadly if thrown with great accuracy.

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Straight clubs, known as waddy or nulla nulla, can be relatively featureless or studded with nails or other protuberances. The rare example presented here boasts an unusually long, geometrically studded head above a gnarled haft. Erroneously identified as a “pineapple club,” the distinctive form of this weapon is in fact a reference to the pandanus fruit.