BM_Oc1895_338

Title: A message stick from Queensland held in the British Museum

Description: Message stick made of wood. (British Museum description) Accompanying sketch: "N. Queensland. Short cylindrical stick of pale soft wood which has been reddened. It is not perfectly straight and is covered all over with short incised lines which seem to form a kind of rough lozenge or diamond pattern. Mulgrave blacks. 'Message stick'"

Date Created: 1895

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

State/Territory: QLD

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with "Mulgrave blacks", Queensland (North)

Dimension 1: 130mm Dimension 2: 9mm Dimension 3: 8mm

Materials: wood

Source types: museum collection

Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc1895,-.338

Collector: Donated by: Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks Field Collection by: W Charles Handley Acquisition notes: "Part of a small collection of Australian Aboriginal objects from north Queensland which Franks purchased from W Charles Handley of Cairns in September 1895."

Coordinates: 17°10'36.598800"S,145°48'38.199600"E  (-17.176833, 145.810611)

Media copyright: The British Museum British Museum Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Notes on coordinates: Approximate point between Mt Bellenden Ker & Gordonvale, Queensland, per Google maps. An article from 12 Mar 1892 - THE EXPLORER - Trove, re the fruits of Mt Bellenden Ker referring to the local tribes as "Mulgrave blacks" (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/19822037) The Mallanbarra along with the other coastal clans the mandiigalpi and the gulgibarra were known by Europeans as the Mulgrave river blacks which they feared when trying to establish the area which is now known as Gordonvale (https://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/experience-cairns/facts-figures-history/first-peoples-history).

URL institution: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3066750&partId=1&searchText=message+stick&images=true&page=1

IRN: EOC90148

Notes: Additional IDs: Oc1895C3.338 (old CDMS no.) 30.11.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Nitzan Rotman