This oval lidded basket, made from hand plaited cabbage-tree palm is a rare object. It appears to have been made from the beginning of a small child’s hat to which a lid was made, in the style of the crown of another hat. The basket is approximately 40cm in circumference with a height of approximately 10cm. The plait is a “rustic 4 plait” which has a saw-toothed edge on both sides. Each of the four strands in the plait is 5mm wide, giving a plait width of approximately 10mm. Sewing was commenced at the centre of the base with the centre strand, being plaited from 7mm wide strands. On the base, the overlap between strands is approximately 50% but there is only a 25% overlap on the sides. The indication that this article was initially begun as a hat is the direction on the overlap on the sides. On a hat, the overlap is always done so that the top strand overlaps the lower strand so that rain falling on the hat runs down the side rather than infiltrating the hat. In this basket, the strands appear underlapped, which would have been reversed if it were a hat. There is one small area of damage on one side of the basket.

The lid has a central line where the plait was started using a decorative “rustic 6 plait” made from six strands of the same width as the rest of the lid. There is approximately a 25% overlap between the plaited strands. The lid fits on the basket and is sewn to the base through the cotton lining. A handle is also made from the “rustic 6 plait” and is backed onto blue cotton fabric. The basket and lid are lined with the same pale blue cotton fabric as the handle and the top of the sides of the basket are edged in this same fabric. There are rust stains on the base of the lining and the lid lining is also stained, all indicating significant use. All the sewing is done with cotton thread and is functional rather than fine or decorative and some areas of the lining have been roughly repaired. The significance of this basket cannot be overestimated. From a 2024 survey made of over 850 museums, this is the only cabbage-tree palm basket located. It is also the only surviving cabbage-tree palm article known to have been made by an Indigenous person.