BERNDT1946_0003_2

Title: A message stick from Yirrkala held in the Berndt Museum (two of five in a series)

Description: For Australia in General: Sticks can be divided generally in 2 kinds. Those used in ceremony, and more general purpose secular message sticks. Generally the secular sticks serve only as a memory aid or a passport though foreign or hostile territory. The designs themselves have meaning but they cannot be read by anyone except the messenger who has been told the meaning by the sender of the stick. ie. There is no sign language the marks being given arbitary meaning by the sender. The messenger in in all cases an adult man, never a woman, and usually a trusted close relative of the sender. In some regions namely Queensland and S.E. Australia and southern edge of the Nullabor, and Melville and Bathurst Islands designs sometimes refer to topographical features which the messenger must pass before his destination is reached. Sometimes also there were notches representing the length of the journey in days. N.E. Arnhem Land sticks (like these) do not have such topographical features represented hosever. message sticks from Arnhem Land are usually small flat slabs of wood, or a cylinder tapering at both ends. patterns are mainly vertical diagonal lines, diamonds, and human figures. NB: A variety of such sticks are shown in Ref. 1. to 5. The designs on ceremonial message sticks have mythological significance. They refer to approaching rituals or ceremonial trade relations. N.B. Those on Bathurst and Melville Islands are more elaborately carved and usually constitute an invitaiton to a ceremony (e.g. mortuary rite) or are informative e.g. notification of an event such as a death. According to both Howitt and Roth who collected in 1897 and 1904 respectively, message sticks were used for several purposes, to call participants of a ceremony together, to invite fellow tribesman to a hunt or fight, and to convey a personal request from one aboriginal through a messenger to another asking him for food or goods, or to inform of a dead (the latter two being more secular usages.) … Small flat incised wooden tablets Made from blonde wood rectangular with incised meaningful designs. Some have fur or wool attachments. Two have been coated with red ochre before incising. 2” to 3” in length. Manufacture: Specific: Made of soft ‘milk-

Message: (b) The return message stick, meant to be sent by Ngaradjin of Yirrkala to the girl’s parents at Groote saying that a girl from Groote was promised to Ngaradin’s son, and that all is ready at Yirrkala for her to be sent.

Creator of Object: Ngaradjin of Yirrkala

Item type: message stick in a private collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: NT

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Dhangu Austlang: N192 - Dhangu Glottolog: dhan1270

Linguistic area 2: Chirila: Anindilyakwa Austlang: N151 - Anindilyakwa Glottolog: anin1240

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Yirrkala Sent from Yirrkala to Groote Eylandt

Cultural region: TopEnd_arnhem_east

Semantic domains: purpose_response, sd_activity_marriage, sd_person_female_girl

Institution/Holder file: Berndt Museum object identifier: 1946/0003.1-5

Coordinates: 12°15'10.000800"S,136°53'30.001200"E  (-12.252778, 136.891667)

Media copyright: Berndt Museum

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Yirrkala

Notes: The requesting message stick, to which this object relates directly, is BERNDT1946_0003_1

Media Files:

Data Entry: Piers Kelly