BBM10185_1_2

Title: A message stick held in the Beechworth Burke Museum

Description: Victorian Collections online catalogue: "Ceremonial object - Message Sticks, Dja Dja Wurrung - Two solid cylindrical shaped pieces of wood bound together with black, red and yellow string. Each stick has etchings with angular lines and dots."

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: political

Notes on linguistic areas: Dja Dja Wurrung

Dimension 1: 231mm Dimension 2: 33mm Dimension 3: 33mm

Materials: string, wood

Techniques: bound, carve, etch

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date 1868

Institution/Holder file: The Beechworth Burke Museum object identifier: 10185.1-2

Collector: Reynold Everly Johns

Media copyright: The Beechworth Burke Museum

URL institution: https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/60e799213f60538185db7725

Notes: 28.5.24 NR: counted as only one message stick, even though there are two. From Victorian Collections: "These Message Sticks acknowledge the return of Dja Dja Wurrung Cultural material held by the Burke Museum. The Burke Museum is the current custodian of a significant collection of First Peoples’ cultural material from across South-Eastern Australia. These objects were sold to the Museum by Reynold Everly Johns in 1868. We recognise the harm caused by dispossession of cultural material, and by any inappropriate display and interpretation of this collection over the past 150 years. The Burke Museum is continuing to build relationships and collaborate with traditional owners, Aboriginal communities and the museum sector to ensure culturally appropriate outcomes for the collection, including repatriation of objects to communities of origin."

Media Files:

Data Entry: Nitzan Rotman