toa

A small painted artifact made by the Diyari people of Australia, believed to have been used as place markers or signposts.

These thirty-four toa constructions, made from urban debris and ceremoniously installed in a circular (or sometimes oval) bed of sand, bring together the multiple themes centred on reclamation that preoccupied his life.

It seems that on leaving one place people would place a toa in the ground to show other people where they had gone.

A brave warrior.

The toa or brave who distinguished himself was thought very highly of.

Thus in Polynesia, the toa (warrior) could challenge the ariki (priest/chief).

A Polynesian tree of the genus Casuarina, or its wood.

It happens that nature has assembled in this spot, not only the wildest profusion of the vegetable kingdom, over which the lofty toa tree stands pre-eminent, but also objects of another description, overhanging rocks, hollow-sounding caverns, and steep precipices, calculated to give an aspect as bold and sublime as the imagination can well conceive, and constituting a species of scenery, which, in proportion as it is more rare, is more admired by the natives.

The toa wood of the South Pacific islands is similar to Eastern walnut in color and texture, but is much finer in figure.