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Portrait of Mocatta, commonly called Pretty Mary, a Native of South Australia

1843
Theresa Snell Walker (English (active Australia), 1807–1876)

One of a pair of portraits sculpted by Theresa Snell Walker, this wax relief depicts Mukata, also known as "Mocatta" or "Pretty Mary," one of the wives of the Kaurna leader Mullawirraburka. Unlike the portrait of her husband, whom Walker depicted in European dress, Mukata is shown draped in fabric, possibly a traditional possum-skin cloak. Emphasizing the cloak’s rippling folds, Walker alludes to classical sculpture, a popular visual trope that reinforced a European image of Aboriginal peoples as "noble savages." The Kaurna were decimated by disease as British settlers in south Australia coopted their lands in the nineteenth century, but their descendants still survive, and community leaders since the 1970s have made significant progress in resurrecting the traditional culture and language.


Object Details

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