150 x 105 mm. Archibald Meston (1851 - 1924) posing with an Aboriginal Australian spear. The spear is inserted into a small cup at the end of the stick, and flicked out, enabling the spear to be thrown over 100 yards. Meston was a journalist and explorer who became interested in the language and culture of the Aboriginal Australian peoples, and being a keen sportsman, was a practiced thrower of the boomerang and spear. From 1898 to 1903 he was protector of Aboriginal Australians in Southern Queensland and in 1910 was appointed director of the Queensland Government Tourist Board.