AMSD - Message Stick AMus

Coordinates WGS84

23°52'S, 139°41'E
-23.87, 139.68

AMus_E013376

Title: A message stick inviting to come to Boulia for blankets, held in the Australian Museum

Description: Message or letter stick [ref reg]; Oblong, both ends pointed, charring, incised lines infilled with charcoal. Side A: Series of incised bands of horizontal lines, closer at one end. Side B: Series of incised horizontal bands, at one end is H shape, other a grid [ref LC]; Condition: Complete. One end chipped (ref LC). Sketch of message stick (fig. 329) on plate XVIII of “Ethnological studies” by W. E. Roth Sketch of message stick (fig. 14) on p. 345 in Maria Frank's "Botenstäbe in Australien"

Message: Roth 1897: "Made by a Karanya (Boulia District). Obv. and Rev. identical. The message to be conveyed was: "All you fellows belonging to Bedouri, &e., come up to Boulia for blankets, or a corrobboree," &e. A = Bedouri, B = Breadalbane, C = Cooraboolka [Coorabulka], D = Marion Downs, E = Boulia." (p. 137) AMus pdf from 24.01.2023: "Function: Obverse/ reverse identical. "All you fellows belonging to Bedouri, etc., come up to Boulia for blankets, or a corrobboree etc" (Ethno. Stud. p. 137) [ref LC];"

Creator of Object: Sender: A Karanya man AMus pdf from 24.01.2023: "Maker: Made by a karanya tribal man, Boulia (ref reg) [ref LC];"

Date Created: 1895

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Karanya Austlang: L32 - Karanya

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)"

Semantic domains: sd_ceremony, sd_item_blanket, sd_person_group_language, sd_place, sd_request_invitation, sd_request_item

Dimension 1: 112mm Dimension 2: 14mm Dimension 3: 5mm

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: E013376

Collector: Purchased by: Roth, Dr Walter Edmund

Coordinates: 23°52'13.177200"S,139°40'30.680400"E (-23.870327, 139.675189)

Media copyright: The Australian Museum

Notes on coordinates: Chirila centroid coordinates for Karanya

URL institution: http://collections.australianmuseum.net.au/amweb/pages/am/Display.php?irn=5579&QueryPage=%2Famweb%2Fpages%2Fam%2FQuery.php&highlight_term=message+stick