AWH1904P704F44_12

Title: Sketch of a message stick from Queensland reproduced by A.W.Howitt (1904) and M. Frank (1940)

Description: Sketch of message stick (fig. 12) on p. 704 in Howitt's 1904 "The native tribes of southeast Australia". Sketch of message stick (fig. 26) on p. 345 in Maria Frank's "Botenstäbe in Australien".

Message: Howitt 1904, p.709: "The message-stick No. 12 in Fig 44 is from the Yakunbura tribe of the Dawson River, Queensland. One end is coloured blue, the other red; the notches are to remind the messenger of the various parts of his message, and the lines marked across the longitudinal one are the days on which he has travelled. The persons to whom the stick is sent know from them the number of days it will take them to travel to the place from which the messenger has come."

Frank 1940, p. 341: "Bei den Yakumbura erinnern die Kerben auf dem Botenstab den Boten an die verschiedenen Teile seiner Botschaft und die Linien, die der Lange nach geritzt sind, an die Tage, die er wanderte (45, S. 705). Die Personen, für die die Botschaft bestimmt ist, wissen nun durch die Kerben die Zahl der Tage, die sie wandern müssen, bis sie zu dem Ausgangspunkt des Boten kommen (Fig. 26).
" Translation JB: "At the Yakumbura, the notches on the message stick are to remind the messenger of the various parts of the message; and the lines carved in the length of the stick are to remind of the days he wandered (45, p. 705). The addressee of the message now knows from the number of notches the number of days it takes to travel to the origin place of the message stick (Fig. 26)."

Date Created: 1904

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

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

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with Yakunbura tribe of the Dawson River, Queensland (p. 709). The Records of the Australian Museum lists 'Yakunbura as a name given by Howitt for the community of the "Western tributaries, Dawson River, Queensland". The most reasonable possiblity via Austlang is Yangeberra, Yangeeberra, Yangeeburra, Yankibura, Yankiburra, which all point to D37: Gunggari, which is reasonably far west. Hard to tell if its on tributaries to the Dawson River.

Sources:

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

Howitt, A. W. 1904. The native tribes of southeast Australia. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited.

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

Institution/Holder file: The Australian Museum

Coordinates: 26°28'23.451600"S,147°13'2.362800"E  (-26.473181, 147.217323)

Media copyright: The Australian Museum

URL source 1: https://archive.org/details/nativetribesofso00howiuoft/page/696

Media Files:

Data Entry: Julia Bespamyatnykh, Piers Kelly