BM_Oc1900_0723_54

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

Description: Commemorative stick, message stick, of wood, coloured red, ornamented with incised lines.

Message: Register slip comment: 'Cairns district. Chokay or stick cut to commemorate a fight between Cairns and Mulgrave blacks'

Date Created: 1900

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with Cairns, North Queensland.

Dimension 1: 86mm Dimension 2: 15mm Dimension 3: 10mm

Materials: wood

Techniques: carved, pigmented

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date: 1900

Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc1900,0723.54

Collector: Field Collection by: W Charles Handley Purchased from: Rollin & Feuardent Curator's comments: "Register slip comment: 'Cairns district. Chokay or stick cut to commemorate a fight between Cairns and Mulgrave blacks'."

Coordinates: 16°55'13.501200"S,145°46'14.401200"E  (-16.920417, 145.770667)

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

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Cairns, Queensland, per Google maps.

URL institution: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Oc1900-0723-54

Notes: 5.12.23 NR: Bibliographic references: National Museum of Australia 2015; Encounters. Revealing Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Objects from the British Museum (p.197). 5.12.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Nitzan Rotman