BM_Oc1895_339

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

Description: Message stick made of wood. (British Museum description) Accompanying sketch: "Australia. N. Queensland. Message stick of pale reddened wood, circular section, slightly curved. Covered all over with irregular intersecting incised lines. Mulgrave blacks"

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: 146mm Dimension 2: 14mm Dimension 3: 13mm

Materials: wood

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date: 1895

Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc1895,-.339

Collector: Donated by: Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks Purchased from: W Charles Handley Acquisition notes: "Likely to be 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). Please note: there's is also a locality named "Mulgrave" (20°01'39.7"S 146°59'17.9"E - Mulgrave is a rural locality in the Shire of Burdekin, Queensland) in QLD. It is located near Townsville.

URL institution: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=506975&partId=1&searchText=message+stick&images=true&sortBy=fromDateDesc&page=1

IRN: EOC8754

Notes: Additional IDs: Oc1895C3.339 (old CDMS no.) 5.12.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Nitzan Rotman