| Coordinates WGS84 | 22°17'S, 144°35'E -22.28, 144.58 |
BM_Oc1901_1221_18
Title: A message stick from Queensland held in the British Museum
Description: Cylindrical message stick (with carved message) made of soft pale wood (wattle or mimosa). (British Museum description) Accompanying sketch: "Australia. Queensland. Cylindrical stick of soft pale wood ("kobbichelly") a kind of wattle or mimosa. It is carved with longitudinal zigzag lines. Message stick. Dalleburra Tribe. Mitchell District. Carved by Mary (Nowanjunger (=to get up) of Kobero class the distinctive marks of which are to have the first joint of one little finger cut off and a hole bored through the nose. The alleged translation of the message, as given by Mary, is "Dog all right. Me and Mickey plenty look em out, no let kangaroo kill em, put em devil-devil (carbolic) along a foot every day suppose nobody help me give 'em bogy (bath), me wash 'em myself. When misses come up, bring 'em clothes. Misses come up quick fellow. Mind (?) o fellow (=I) mickers and wipma sit down poor fellow, no got 'em clothes".
Message: Translation of the message stick as given by Mary [the creator]. “Dog all right. Me and Mickey plenty look ‘em out, no let kangaroo kill ‘em, put ‘em devil-devil [Devil-devil = anything that burns; in this instance it means carbolic - RC] along a foot every day, suppose nobody help me gives ‘em bogy [bogy = bath - RC] me wash ‘em mysel’. When missis come up, bring ‘em clothes. Missis come up quick fellow. Mindo [Mindo = I - RC] fellow, Mickey and Wyma sit down poor fellow, no got ‘em clothes” (Notes written in 1901 by Robert Christison - from Ethdoc 903)
Creator of Object: Carved by Mary whose native name is Nowunjunger {meaning “no get up”} of the class Kobero of the Dalleburra tribe. (Notes written in 1901 by Robert Christison - from Ethdoc 903) Producer name: Nowun-junger (Mary); Details: individual; Indigenous Australian; Australian; Female; Life dates: c1852-c1914; Biography: Born in the Flinders Shire in North Queensland circa 1853. Belonged to Kobro section, one of four moieties of Dallebura group, one of four groups that make up Yirandali language group. Mother of Kiara, the wife of Mickey, the step daughter of Wyma and the daughter of Warimboomoolo Turra-Wee-Wee; Bibliography: Bennett, M.M. 1927. Christison of Lammermoor.London: Alston Rivers; Queensland State Archives: Chief Protector of Aboriginals Annual Report, 1908. See image Oc/B76/20 in AOA Pictorial Archive for photograph of Mary. (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/EA_Oc-B76-20)
Date Created: 1901
Notes on date created: terminus ante quem
Item type: message stick in a collection
Subtype: traditional
State/Territory: QLD
Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Yirandali Austlang: L42 - Yirandali Glottolog: yira1239
Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with Lammermoor, Mitchell, Queensland. "Message stick of Dalleburra tribe, Narkool, Tower Hill Creek, Mitchell District, North Queensland" (Notes written in 1901 by Robert Christison - from Ethdoc 903) Production ethnic group: Yirandali (aka Dalleburra); Kobero
Dimension 1: 89mm Dimension 2: 8mm Dimension 3: 6mm
Materials: mimosa wood (?), wattle wood (?)
Techniques: carved
Source types: museum collection
Date collected: Acquisition date: 1901
Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc1901,1221.18
Collector: Donated by: Robert Christison Curator's comments: "‘Message stick of Dalleburra tribe, Narkool, Tower Hill Creek, Mitchell District, North Queensland. (Carved from the wood of the kobbichelly, a kind of small wattle or mimosa growing chiefly near creeks; sticks of kobbichelly were used for making fires, by rubbing one against a piece of soft wood. Carved by Mary whose native name is Nowunjunger {meaning “no get up”} of the class Kobero of the Dalleburra tribe. As a member of the class Kobero she has had the first joint of one little finger cut off and a hole bored through her nose.) Translation of the message stick as given by Mary. “Dog all right. Me and Mickey plenty look ‘em out, no let kangaroo kill ‘em, put ‘em devil-devil [Devil-devil = anything that burns; in this instance it means carbolic - RC] along a foot every day, suppose nobody help me gives ‘em bogy [bogy = bath - RC] me wash ‘em mysel’. When missis come up, bring ‘em clothes. Missis come up quick fellow. Mindo [Mindo = I - RC] fellow, Mickey and Wyma sit down poor fellow, no got ‘em clothes” [Notes written in 1901 by Robert Christison - from Ethdoc 903]." See image Oc/B76/20 in AOA Pictorial Archive for photograph of Mary. Acquisition notes: "Christison acquired this collection of 20 objects from his Lammermoor station in Queensland’s Mitchell District. At the time he donated them to the British Museum, he described them as ‘Weapons of the Dalleburra tribe whose chief camping ground was round the waterhole Narkool on Lower Tower Hill Creek, which is the main source of the Thomson River, Queensland, Latitude 20o S longitude 144o E’ (Ethdoc 903)."
Coordinates: 22°16'30.601200"S,144°34'42.398400"E (-22.275167, 144.578444)
Media copyright: The British Museum British Museum Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Notes on coordinates: Approximate coordinates of Towerhill Creek
IRN: EOC10345
Notes: OT: "Bibliography": Sculthorpe et al. 2015 / Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation (p.175, fig.55); National Museum of Australia 2015 / Encounters. Revealing Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Objects from the British Museum (p.139) PK: Two additional BM images requested 19 Nov 2016. 5.12.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue. 29.01.24 PK: Compare this with CL1889P304A2. Is it the same sender? Nowunjunger versus Nowwanjung and different part of Queensland but worth investigating.
Media Files:
Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly, Nitzan Rotman