SKULLS CLAIMED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23033, 10 May 1938, Page 11

SKULLS CLAIMED

INTENDED FOR COLLECTOR USE IN MEDICAL STUDIES SYDNEY, May 9 It is stated that Dr. J. Frederick Watson, of Canberra, has claimed ownership of the 100 skulls found in a zinc-lined box in a Sydney city store during cleaning-up operations on Inday. , ~ Dr. Watson believes that tliey are New Guinea and Polynesian skulls intended for him when he was studying medicine at the university, and collecting skulls. i j His father and uncle, he said, had owned the store in which' the skulls were found.

POSSIBLE EXPLANATION AUCKLANDER'S MEMORIES A possible explanation of the discovery of the skulls was given yesterday bv an Onehunga resident, Mr. R. -V. Dutton. He recalled that about 1900 Captain Yoss, who sailed round the world in a canoe Tilikum, visited New Zealand, and on his arrival in Auckland the craft was exhibited on the present site of the post office in Wellesley Street, then a vacant section. Captain Voss bad a large number of skulls of South Sea islanders, which he placed on show. The skulls weie in an excellent state of preservation, Mr. Dutton said, and seemed to answer to the description of those reported to have been found in Sydney. Some were packed in a case which, as far as he remembered, resembled the case mentioned in tlie cablegram. Captain Voss went from Auckland to Sydney.