The Possum Skin Cloak – Being Warmed by Culture

Abstract

For me, wearing a possum skin cloak is as foreign an idea as it is to non-indigenous Australians. But I know, from stories told by Elders and old photos, that possum skin cloaks are part of my heritage as a Koorie person. We wore them inside-out – with the warm fur on our skin during the cold winter days and nights. And that was how we kept warm for over 40,000 years.