Arts and Crafts of Torres Strait

In this study of the artefacts of the Torres Strait islanders, David Moore considers the utilitarian, religious, recreational, personal, commercial and military products of the island craftsmen and their applications and usage in the many aspects of island life.

David R Moore was educated at St John's School, Leatherhead and Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with honours in the Classical Tripos in 1939. In 1949 he went to Australia, where he was assistant director on two films in which many Aborigines appeared. This stimulated his interest in anthropology, and after an interlude in publishing, he took the anthropology and prehistory course at the University of Sydney, being awarded the Diploma in Anthropology. In 1965 he became Curator of Anthropology at the Australian Museum in Sydney and this gave him the opportunity to concentrate his research on Torres Strait.