BERNDT1976_0573

Title: A bark painting from Mowanjum apparently depicting a message stick carrier made of hair in the Berndt Museum

Description: From catalogue: "Secular: This painting depicts a minor deity called Ngunjari and the bullroarer or maiangari (miangari) stick with shich he is generally associated (as per Peter Lucich). Ngunjari is a mythical hero coming from the east who brought the sacred boards (miangari) with him. He wandered from east to west through the Kimberleys and established the maingari cult (as per Prof. Petri). N.B. Some maiangari songs are recorded ontape M5 (track 2). Contrary to the above information Watty Karawadda says the oval curved object at top right is not a maiangari stick, but rather a bunch of hair which was used to carry messages in the Kimberleys (see Ref.2. p.189)." "Natural earth pigment on bark. Slightly curved piece of wavy grained fibrous eucalypt bark. White pigment background (now faded and worn). The figure with its oval object alongside is outlined in black and yellow and both have yellow dot infill. An unusu" [spreadsheet from Berndt Museum is cut off]

Item type: message stick accessory

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Warrwa Austlang: K10 - Warrwa Glottolog: warr1258

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Mowanjum, Kimberley

Institution/Holder file: Berndt Museum object identifier: 1976/0573

Collector: Lucich, P.

Coordinates: 17°21'23.400000"S,123°41'56.601600"E  (-17.3565, 123.699056)

Media copyright: Berndt Museum

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Mowanjum community

Data Entry: Piers Kelly