In fact, the skills of shell stringing have been passed down through generations of Indigenous women. 

The cleaned shells sit together in iridescent unbroken string; when handled they make a gentle chinking sound. 

Onyx-black shells, glistening abalone shells, tiny white and orange and metallic blue and green – the perfect adornments, created by nature. 

Greeno remembers going down to the beach on Cape Barren Island as a child, wandering and collecting shells with her mother and elders. 

But she didn’t come to shell stringing herself until much later, prompted by questions from others. 

“When I thought about it this was such an important cultural women’s practice, I wanted to ensure that was going to be continued,” Greeno said. 

So she sat down with her mother and learnt the thousand-year-old tradition. 

While the knowledge and skills continue, the tools have changed. 

In days gone by the holes in the shell were made using the eye tooth of a kangaroo, before they were threaded onto sinew from the tails of kangaroos and wallabies – today Greeno uses a tailors haul and beading thread. 

“[Sinew] dries fairly rigid and stiff it would have been very hard unless you’d soaked it and softened it for you to tie a knot in it once you finished your necklace to join it,” Greeno said. 

Unlike working with beads, shells are non-uniform in shape and size. Greeno will spend up to two weeks stringing a long necklace.

But the work begins long before the shells ever meet string. 

After being collected, the shells must be cleaned and their coating stripped. 

Traditionally this was a long process, which involved placing the shells in a container in a fire, which emitted a particular smoke. 

“That smoke became an acid so they could run the coating off the shells, and that would have been extremely time consuming, it would have taken days, a week, to get enough [for a necklace],” Greeno said.

 But the results are worth the time and effort. The necklaces have been used by significant Indigenous Tasmanians, such as Truganini. 

“If you look at history books it talked about sometimes if someone close to them died, they broke their shell necklace and they cut their hair really short,” Greeno said. 

The Cultural Jewels exhibition is touring nationally and features Lola’s work alongside that of her grandmother, mother and daughter, showing the lineage of the art. 

For more information about the long tradition of shell stringing, Greeno has produced a book sharing the history of the practice; Lola Greeno: Cultural Jewels.