BLM19350712

Title: Message stick from East Arnhem Land sent by Wonggu during the Caledon Bay crisis

Description: Earlier in May 1935, when [Donald] Thomson visited Wonggu’s sons in Fannie Bay Gaol [captured during the Caledon Bay Crisis], Natjiyalma, Ngarkaya and Maaw fashioned a small message stick and gave it to Thomson to give to their father, similarly ensuring Thomson’s safety and giving him credentials as a messenger. Then in June 1936, when Thomson was back in Darwin to collect Wonggu’s sons and return them home safely, they knew that Thomson had met and spoken with their father because he carried a message stick bearing Wonggu’s mark (Figure 7.2). From Allen, Lindy. 2015. "Message sticks and Indigenous diplomacy." In Conciliation on colonial frontiers: Conflict, performance and commemoration in Australia and the Pacific Rim, edited by Kate Darian-Smith and Penelope Edmonds, 113-131. New York: Taylor & Francis. "[...]later he [Wonggu] brought me [Thomson] a message stick ... [and] explained that the marks inscribed upon it represented himself sitting down quietly and maintaining peace among the people. [Thomson, Donald Thomson in Arnhem Land, 80]

Message: «I am Wonggu sitting down in the middle, minding the territory of Djapu and Munyuku» "He [Wonggu] knew that I [Donald Thomson] was his friend and he showed no resentment, but later he brought me a message stick ... [and] explained that the marks inscribed upon it represented himself sitting down quietly and maintaining peace among the people": Thomson, Donald F, and Nicolas Peterson. 1983. Donald Thomson in Arnhem Land. Melbourne: Currey O'Neil, cited in Allen, Lindy. 2015. "Message sticks and Indigenous diplomacy." In Conciliation on colonial frontiers: Conflict, performance and commemoration in Australia and the Pacific Rim, edited by Kate Darian-Smith and Penelope Edmonds, 113-131. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Creator of Object: Wonggu

Date Created: 1935

Notes on date created: The damaged Yirrkala label puts the date as 12 July 1935, though Allen's research appears to place it in 1936

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: NT

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Djapu Austlang: N145 - Djapu Glottolog: djap1238

Linguistic area 2: Chirila: Larrakia Austlang: N21 - Larrakia Glottolog: lara1258

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Trial Bay, East Arnhem Land; Trial Bay is the Djapu region of the Yolngu speaking area. Larrakia is given for Darwin but note that no Larrakia speakers were involved in this exchange.

Cultural region: TopEnd_arnhem_east

Institution/Holder file: Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka

Coordinates: 13°01'9.901200"S,136°32'53.001600"E  (-13.019417, 136.548056)

Media copyright: Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka

Notes on coordinates: Approximate coordinates for Trial Bay

Notes: 12.06.2024, from H.M.: "Dear Piers, I hope I have got the right email! II have made an interesting discovery though I am not sure why no one made it before. There are two message sticks. The one with the parallel grooves was given to Donald Thompson by Wonggu’s sons imprisoned in Darwin in 1935, and is reported to have an accompanying verbal message we are all in good health. Thomson presented himself as being an emissary from the government and it looks from his original documentation that Wonggu made it for Thomson in that capacity. The associated message is in effect ‘I am Wonggu minding the territory shown of the various clans’ ‘we sit down along the middle’ – i.e. he and Thomson between two governments. As this was close to first contact this makes it a very remarkable document. But in fact I had interpreted it before reading the labels (which in the images are the wrong way around!). I can see that the engraved designs are of his own Djapu clan (parallel lines) and his mother’s Munyuku (triangles and diamonds). So like some toas it is legible. Although close to the time of course some Yolnggu had been interacting outside the region for a decade or so – hence the translation. How are you going these days. Sorry we always seem to be away when you visit Canberra. Best [HM] 13.06.2024 PK: "Wonderful to hear from you! I'm assuming you're in Yirrkala now if you're looking at the Caledon Bay message sticks? I have known about these two objects and have included them in the AMSD as: BLM19350711 BLM19350712 But! I have never seen the hand-drawn labels that you just photographed (only the insect-bitten typed ones). Nor would I have been remotely aware of that the parallel lines represented the Djapu clan and the triangles and diamond and triangles represented Munyuku. You might know already that Lindy Allen wrote about these message sticks, in her chapter 'Message sticks and Indigenous diplomacy'. In her caption to a sketch of the object by Joan E. Clark, she wrote: "Drawing of a message stick with Wonggu's mark—a cross on the right [...]". This specific gloss is confirmed in the hand-drawn label you photographed where it is written "The (x is Wonggo minding (?) the territory shown in the various lines; 'we sit down along middle'". I want to go ahead and update the database entries for these two artefacts based on what you've just told me and I want to make sure that I don't get the labels mixed up myself. Is this how it should be, below? Ie, if one were to switch the two typewritten labels the text would be associated with the correct message stick? I'm suggesting, speculatively, that the curved line that encloses the cross might denote 'sitting', by analogy with similar signs in Central Australian iconography? Please let me know if the annotated images I've included look right to you and I will go ahead and update the database. Hopefully I'll see you in Canberra next year – tentatively planning a visit. " P.S. I also discussed these two message sticks in a very superficial way in a talk I gave at Melb uni, here [youtube link]" 13.06.2024 HM "Dear Piers, Yes that is right, but they are not my photos. They are ones from the Buku Larrnggay data base that they have given to me for the lecture I am giving in two weeks time in London, where they briefly figure in my narrative! The labels were photographed before the rodents got at them when they were initially returned to one of Wonggu’s sons. Yolngu don’t regularly use those U shapes for people sitting down or camping. I suspect that is because such shapes are incorporated in clan design patterns. People do sand drawings incorporating circles and lines etc. but not quite with the same systematic vocabulary of Central Australia. So I think that the apparent semi-circle is to demarcate the x in the centre. [FM] agrees! "

Media Files:

Data Entry: Piers Kelly