Page "Yagan" Paragraph 25

Travelling with Irwin was Ensign Robert Dale, who had somehow acquired Yagan's head.

According to the historian Paul Turnbull, Dale appears to have persuaded Governor Irwin to let him have the head as an " anthropological curiosity ".

After arriving in London, Dale tried to sell the head to scientists, approaching a number of anatomists and phrenologists.

His price of ₤ 20 failed to find a buyer, so he made an agreement with Thomas Pettigrew for the exclusive use of the head for 18 months.

Pettigrew, a surgeon and antiquarian, was well known in the London social scene for holding private parties at which he unrolled and autopsied Egyptian mummies.

He displayed the head on a table in front of a panoramic view of King George Sound reproduced from Dale's sketches.

For effect the head was adorned with a fresh corded headband and feathers of the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo.