AMus_E013387

Title: A Kalkatungu message stick held in the Australian Museum

Description: Message or letter stick [ref reg]; Message stick {ref LC) Oblong, both ends squared. Side A: Incised concentric chevrons in groups of 4, apexes meeting in middle to form star, incised herringbone. Middle of stick cut away, and line, 2 crosses incised. Side B: Incised with shapes, concentric lozenge, lines, crosses, middle of stick cut away and line and 2 crosses incised [ref LC]; Condition: Complete. Mould [ref LC]". Sketch of two facets of one message stick (fig. 333) on plate XVIII of “Ethnological studies” by W. E. Roth. Sketch of message stick (fig. 30a,b) on p. 345 in Maria Frank's "Botenstäbe in Australien"

Message: «Unknown message» From: A once-known Kalkadoon man or woman Sent: 1896 To: A once-known person or group of people Subject: unknown "Fig. 333. Made by a Kalkadoon (Leichhardt-Selwyn District). A hollow band as it were is cut round the centre. A = the beard (yun-pul), B = the vulva (tin-ti). The remaining marks are all ornamental, "flash"." (Roth 1897, p138) Note that AMus pdf from 24.01.2023 [INCORRECT]: "Function: Obv: "Come up for a corroboree". Rev: "Quick! hurry up" {Ethn. Stud. Sect. 236). Message obt. from transmitter by Roth {Eth. Stud. Sect. 235) [ref LC];" however this is probably an error. The object that has this sense is AMus_E013375 (see notes for this entry) "In the Leichhardt-Selwyn District, the Kalkadoon letter-stick bears usually a design of a phallic nature (Fig. 333) ; sometimes the beard is represented." (Roth 1887, 137)

Creator of Object: Sender: a Kalkadoon AMus pdf from 24.01.2023: "Maker: Member of kalkadoon people {Eth no. St. p.138) [ref LC];"

Date Created: 1897

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Kalkatungu Austlang: G13 - Kalkatungu / Kalkadoon Glottolog: kalk1246

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Leichhardt-Selwyn district, Mount Isa, Queensland. AMus pdf from 24.01.2023: "REGION: Mount Isa; Leichhardt-Selwyn District [ref reg]; Leichhardt-Selwyn District, Queensland [ref LC]"

Cultural region: Channel Country

Semantic domains: sd_body_beard, sd_body_vulva

Dimension 1: 120mm Dimension 2: 24mm Dimension 3: 9mm

Sources:

Frank, Maria. 1940. "Botenstäbe in Australien."

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

Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 72 (4/6): 328-352.

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date: not mentioned Accession date: 23 March 1905

Institution/Holder file: The Australian Museum object identifier: E013387

Collector: Purchased by: Roth, Dr Walter Edmund

Coordinates: 20°55'55.909200"S,139°21'53.085600"E  (-20.932197, 139.364746)

Media copyright: The Australian Museum

Notes on coordinates: Chirila centroid coordinates for Kalkatungu

URL institution: http://collections.australianmuseum.net.au/amweb/pages/am/Display.php?irn=5596&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/n161

Notes: REGISTER

Date: March 23, 1905

Consecutive number: 13387

Name or Description: Message or Letter stick

Locality: Kalkadoon Tribe, Leichardt-Selwyn District [PK: prob 1896]

How Acquired: Purch.

Name of Donor or Seller: Dr. W. E. Roth, FigS Bull.8. Pl4 F5, Neg. V. 2342

Estimated or Market Value: S.20

Destination:Figs. Eth. Studies Pl. XVIII F.338 Text sections 235+6

Remarks:

OTHER NOTES

11.07.2024 PK: Merged with WER1897PXVIIIF333

Roth Bulletin 8 (1905):

Fig. 5.—Oblong, compressed, faintly bi-convex, square-ended edges obtuse; light-coloured wood. Obverse—A large upper panel with a central longitudinal incision, crossed by oblique incisions from left to right, the incisions stopping short at and recommencing from the longitudinal one. A middle countersunk panel containing two extended “St. Andrew’s crosses,” and an oblique incision. The lower panel bears another similar cross of three incisions in each arm, &c. Reverse—Again three panels, the centre countersunk; the incisions are complicated, and can best be studies from the already published figure. Length, 4 ¾ in. ; breadth, 7/8 -in.

Kalkadun Tribe, Leichhardt-Selwyn district (See “Ethnological Studies,” 1897, pl. 18, f. 333)

Media Files:

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