AWH1889P330F13

Title: Sketch of a message stick from Queensland reproduced by A.W. Howitt (1889)

Description: Sketch of a message stick (fig. 13.) in Howitt's 'Notes on Australian message sticks' (1889), later reproduced as fig. 11 on p. 704 of "The native tribes of southeast Australia" (1904)

Message: My correspondent Mr. W. Logan, of Durham Downs, says of this stick as follows: the notches in the upper edge represent a number of men of the Kūrgila class of the tribe. The two rows of dots below represent men respectively of the Kŭnbe and Wūngu classes. The notches on the lower edge represent men of the Kuburu class. The message with it was to invite these people to a corroboree." (p. 325) In writing to a valued correspondent, Mr. R. Christison, of Lammermoor Station, on the subject of message sticks, I submitted to him a sketch of the Mundainbura message sticks with a request that he would ascertain what the men living with him of the Dalebura tribe could make of it; the Dalebura tribe has the same class divisions as those above noted. In reply he wrote as follows: " I return the message you sent in your letter and I will explain all the blacks here can make of it. The top notches represent the Karagilla class; the bottom ones represent the Kooberoo class and the dots represent a wish to meet." This statement is important as showing that the notches in the upper and lower edges have a definite meaning as the Kurgilla and Kuburu classes respectively." (Howitt 1889, p. 325) "Fig. 13. Message stick of the Mundainbura tribe, Queensland, inviting to a corroboree. Upper line of notches represent men of the Kurgila clan, upper line of dots, men of the Kunbe clan, lower line of dots, men of the Wungu clan, and the lower line of notches men of the Kuburu clan. One-fourth scale." (p.332) "The notches shown on the right-hand edge represent a number of men of the Kurgilla sub-class. The two rows of dots represent men respectively of the Kunbe and Wungu sub-classes. The notches on the left-hand edge represent men of the Kuburu sub-class. The message with it was to invite these people to a corrobboree. I sent a sketch of the stick to a valued correspondent, Mr. R. Christison of Lammermoor Station, with a request that he would ascertain what the men of the Dalebura tribe, living with him, could make of it. The Dalebura tribe has the same sub-classes as the Mundainbura tribe. In reply he informed me that his blacks made out the stick to mean, that the right-hand notches represent the Karagilla sub-class ; the left-hand the Kuburu sub-class, and the dots represent a wish to meet. This statement shows that the notches in the right and left-hand edges have a definite meaning as the Kurgilla and Kuburu sub-classes respectively." (Howitt 1904, p. 709)

Creator of Object: a message stick used by the Mŭndainbŭra tribe at the Dawson River, in Queensland (Howitt 1889, p. 325)

Date Created: 1889

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: image of a message stick (artefact missing)

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Mandandanji Austlang: D44 - Mandandanji Glottolog: mand1417

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with the “Mŭndainbŭra tribe, Queensland" (1889, p. 332); "the Mundainbura tribe of the Durham Downs in Queensland" (1904, p. 709) Unable to identify 'Mundainbura' language of Queensland. In Thorpe (1909) 'Australian tribal names with their synonyms', 'Mundainbura' is noted as "North of Denham Range Queensland" which would place it in the vicinity of the Barna language. Other languages that match the general geographic vicinity are Wiri and Yambina. However, in Howitt's text which ought to be considered more reliable, the message stick comes from the Dawson river (p. 325) which is further south, and his correspondent is from Durham Downs which would place the language in the vicinity of the Mandandanji language. This is closer to 'Mundainbura' given that -bura is typically a toponymic suffix in many Queensland languages.

Semantic domains: sd_ceremony, sd_clan, sd_skin

Sources:

Howitt, A. W. 1889. “Notes on Australian Message Sticks and Messengers”. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 18. [Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Wiley]: 314–32

Source types: article

Coordinates: 26°37'18.670800"S,148°25'44.630400"E  (-26.621853, 148.429064)

Notes on coordinates: Chirila centroid coordinates for Mandandaji, however this is an estimation. See 'Notes on linguistic area(s)' above.

URL source 1: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-26171094

URL source 2: https://archive.org/stream/nativetribesofso00howiuoft#page/704/mode/2up

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly