AMus_E013375

Title: A message stick indicating an urgent summons to ceremony, from Boulia district

Description: Message or letter stick [ref reg]; Lanceolate shaped, rounded at head, pointed at end, fairly flat. Side A: Band of short horizontal lines, then zig-zag of diagonal lines, concludes with horizontal line (3/4 of stick decorated). Side B: 2 horizontal lines incised at distance from each other [ref LG]; Condition: Complete. Hole in one side (ref LG) Sketch of two facets of one message stick (fig. 326) on plate XVIII of “Ethnological studies” by W. E. Roth. Digital p.259, notes on p.137

Message: «Come urgently to attend ceremony!»

AMus pdf from 24.01.2023: "Function: Obverse: "Come up for a corrobboree". Reverse: "Quick! Hurry up" (Ref. Roth Ethn. Stud. p. 137) [ref LG]; Forwarded to Carlo when pituri req'd. Obverse. Mountains and creeks around Marion Downs and Marion Downs Station. Reverse: Incised 'flash' mks (Ref. Ethno. Stud. p.137) [ref LG];"

Obverse: "Come up for a corrobboree." Reverse: "Quick! hurry up." (p. 137)

See notes in this entry.

Creator of Object: Sender: Pitta-Pitta AMus pdf from 24.01.2023: "Maker: Made by a Pitta-Pitta(Ref.Eth.Stud.p 137). ref LC\"

Date Created: 1895

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem; from AMus pdg

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Pitta-Pitta Austlang: G6 - Pitta Pitta Glottolog: pitt1247

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Boulia, Channel Country, Queensland. AMus pdf from 24.01.2023: "REGION: Channel Country; Boulia [ref reg]; Boulia, Queensland [ref LC]; North Gregory District, W. Queensland (ref SC)" AMus pdf from 24.01.2023: "Pitta Pitta tribe [ref reg];"

Cultural region: Channel Country

Semantic domains: sd_ceremony, sd_urgency

Dimension 1: 70mm Dimension 2: 15mm Dimension 3: 3mm

Sources:

Roth, Walter Edmund. 1897. Ethnological studies among the north-west-central Queensland Aborigines. Brisbane: Edmund Gregory.

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date: 1895 Accession date: 23 March 1905

Institution/Holder file: The Australian Museum object identifier: E013375

Collector: Purchased by: Roth, Dr Walter Edmund

Coordinates: 23°32'32.938800"S,139°53'22.124400"E  (-23.542483, 139.889479)

Media copyright: The Australian Museum

Notes on coordinates: Chirila centroid coordinates for Pitta-Pitta

URL institution: http://collections.australianmuseum.net.au/amweb/pages/am/Display.php?irn=5578&QueryPage=%2Famweb%2Fpages%2Fam%2FQuery.php&highlight_term=message+stick

URL source 1: https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029890328#page/n257

URL source 2: https://archive.org/stream/cu31924029890328#page/n159

Notes: REGISTER

Date: 23 March 1905

Name or Description: Message or letter stick Pitta Pitta

Locality: Boulia 1895

How Acquired: Purch.

Name of Donor or Seller: Dr. W. E. Roth

Estimated or Market Value: S. 8

Destination: Figs. Eth. Studies. 326 Pl XVIII text sections 235-6

Remarks:

OTHER NOTES

11.07.2024 PK: Merged with WER1897PXVIIIF326 21.02.25 PK: Note that this is the correct meaning ('Come up for corroborree') but there are errors in Roth that have needed to be reconstructed: '326' appears on two separate message sticks in Plate 18, but it is certain that the text associated with '326' on page 137 of Roth is the correct text. For more detail see notes on AMus_E013386

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Julia Bespamyatnykh, Piers Kelly, Nitzan Rotman