BM_Oc1896_1057

Title: A message stick from Western Australia held in the British Museum

Description: Message stick made of wood incsed with designs of a pattern of zig-zags which traverse the length of the stick. The zig-zags are infilled with incised markings. (British Museum catalogue) Accompanying sketch: "Cylindrical message stick of pale wood slightly contracting at each end. It is covered with longitudinal incised zig-zag bands filled in with spots. Swan River district 25 miles from Perth"

Date Created: 1896

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

State/Territory: WA

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with Swan River District, Perth ('25 miles from Perth'), Western Australia

Dimension 1: 101mm Dimension 2: 12mm Dimension 3: 12mm

Materials: wood

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date: 1896

Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc1896,-.1057

Collector: Purchased from: Dr Emile Clement

Coordinates: 31°44'21.901200"S,116°04'3.698400"E  (-31.739417, 116.067694)

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

Notes on coordinates: Approximate point of the Swan River, around 40km (25 miles) from Perth, Western Australia, per Google maps

URL institution: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=487064&partId=1&searchText=message+stick&images=true&page=1

IRN: EOC29042

Notes: OT: Additional IDs: Oc1896C3.1053-1057 (old CDMS no.) PK: No additional BM images to request. 30.11.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly, Nitzan Rotman