Shackles for sale, without key

Hayward's Auction House owner Kevin Hayward holds shackles set for auction next week. Photo by...
Hayward's Auction House owner Kevin Hayward holds shackles set for auction next week. Photo by Peter McIntosh.

More shackles are up for auction in Dunedin.

Hayward's Auction House owner Kevin Hayward said an Oamaru pensioner bought the shackles from a Brisbane garage sale in the 1990s and believed the set to be from the convict ship Charlotte.

The English ship left Portsmouth in 1787 and carried male and female convicts to Sydney, Australia.

The shackles could be used to restrain the ankles of a small person, or handcuff a large person, but a key would need to be made.

Mr Hayward said the shackles would be auctioned on Wednesday and were more refined than those bought by Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull in March.

Mr Cull stopped an auction and the council spent $3900 on the shackles because they could have restrained Maori prisoners in Dunedin.

But further Toitu Otago Settlers Museum investigations revealed the shackles were more likely to have restrained camels in the Middle East.

Mr Cull yesterday said the ''significant aspect'' of stopping the shackle auction in March was the possible connection with Maori prisoners from Taranaki.

shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz

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