This is one of my small hand-held abstract sculptures.
The head is from Blackboy tree (xanthorrhoea australis). This name now politically incorrect, refers to its appearance after a bushfire when only the trunk is left standing blackened. The plant, with its bush fire-blackened trunk, produces a long flower spike, which resembled an Aboriginal boy wielding a spear. After a fire, it recovers rapidly and flowers profusely. Other names are grass tree and Kangaroo tree.
The head sits in a cradle of Australian red cedar (Toona ciliata). Red cedar is a forest tree in the mahogany family, once prolific on the Eastern coast. Because of its fantastic wood-working nature, the early settlers who called it red gold, destroyed the forests which now have to be protected.
15 cm x 12 cm x 12 cm