| Coordinates WGS84 | 11°41'S, 130°50'E -11.68, 130.84 |
ANON1951P11
Title: A sketch of a message stick in an article (1951)
Description: Sketch of one side of message stick in 1951 "The World's News" newspaper column "Natives Send a Message to the 'Big Boss'"
Message: Amoung Jubilee messages delivered in Canberra recently by cyclist couriers were message sticks" from Northern Territory aborigines conveying their loyalty to "The Big Boss," Prime Minister Menzies. One of the sticks was presented to the Northern Territory Administrator A. R. Driver by aboriginal Un-Tu-Looie, of the Melville Island tribe. An interpretation of carvings on one side of the stick (as illustrated) says, "The Bathurst and the Melville Islanders speak with one voice in sending their best wishes to the Big Boss in Canberra." The diagram indicates: A. Mainland and Darwin. B. Government in Darwin. C. Aspley Straits between Bathurst and Melville Islands. D. Bathurst Island people. E. Melville Island people." (p. 11)
Creator of Object: Sender: "The Bathurst and the Melville Islanders, [...] aboriginal Un-Tu-Looie" Recipient: "the Northern Territory Administrator A. R. Driver; Prime Minister Menzies" (p. 11)
Date Created: 1951
Notes on date created: terminus ante quem
Item type: image of a message stick (artefact missing)
Subtype: political
State/Territory: NT
Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Tiwi Austlang: N20 - Tiwi Glottolog: tiwi1244
Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with The Bathurst and the Melville Islands. Melville Island = Tiwi Bathurst Island = Tiwi
Cultural region: TopEnd_tiwi
Semantic domains: sd_person_group_bathurstislanders, sd_person_group_melvilleislanders, sd_place_aspleystraits, sd_place_australianmainland, sd_place_darwin
Source types: newspaper article
Coordinates: 11°40'43.784400"S,130°50'7.332000"E (-11.678829, 130.83537)
Notes on coordinates: Chirila centroid coordinates for Tiwi
URL institution: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139910878
Media Files:
Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly