| Coordinates WGS84 | 22°17'S, 144°35'E -22.28, 144.58 |
BM_Oc1927_0610_14
Title: A message stick from Queensland held in the British Museum
Description: Message stick made of wood.
Message: ‘Wyma to Missus (In Robert Christison’s hand; written on the spot from Wyma’s dictation). ‘Me been lose myself along a native creek[footnote 1] , no more like it that again like children Bogunda [footnote 2] got him well[?] fellow puppy. Me Mary Mickey no more sick, get him plenty work and parter [footnote 3]. Me and altogether want-im see him gone good bye’. [The footnotes were added by Bennett ] Footnote 1 - ‘The joke is that in losing her way on Native Creek she was in her own country’. Footnote 2 - ‘Bogunda, one of the kangaroo hounds, was named after a favourite waterhole for fishing, below the Falls, Kooroorinya.’ Footnote 3 - ‘‘”Plenty work and parter” is another joke. “Parter” is either one of the aboriginal languages or else pigeon English for food.’ (Eth.doc 913)
Creator of Object: Wyma - Also known as: Booloodea Timullinya (Female, 1850 (circa)-27 Jun 1926). Biography: "Booloodea Timullinya was born at Beroota waterhole, near Foulden, at the head of Tower Hill Creek circa 1850. Her grave is on Lammermoor Station. She is from the Dallebura tribe which is one of four tribes that makes up the Yirandali language group. The Dallebura are divided into 4 moeties and Booloodea Timullinya is in the Bunberry section. She was one of Warmboomooloo's wives, and later married Freddy (q.v.) a Kanak stockman working at Lammermoor. She was also Mary Montgomery Bennett nee Christison's childhood nurse at Lammermoor."
Date Created: 1927
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 Production ethnic group: Yirandali. [PK: Note that this will be Lammermoor Station in the vicinity of Winton and not the coastal Lammermoor settlement]
Dimension 1: 138mm Dimension 2: 11mm Dimension 3: 11mm
Materials: wood
Techniques: carved
Source types: museum collection
Date collected: Acquisition date: 1927
Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc1927,0610.14
Collector: Donated by: Mary Montgomerie Bennett Acquisition notes: "Mrs Bennett was the daughter of Mr Robert Christison (see also his collections acquired in 1901 and 1904)." Field Collection by: Robert Christison Curator's comments: "In Eth.doc 913 there is a label associated with this object written by Christison’, and annotated by Bennett. It gives the following account of the meaning of the marks on this message stick: ‘Wyma to Missus (In Robert Christison’s hand; written on the spot from Wyma’s dictation). ‘Me been lose myself along a native creek[footnote 1] , no more like it that again like children Bogunda [footnote 2] got him well[?] fellow puppy. Me Mary Mickey no more sick, get him plenty work and parter [footnote 3]. Me and altogether want -im see him gone good bye’. [The footnotes were added by Bennett ] Footnote 1 - ‘The joke is that in losing her way on Native Creek she was in her own country’. Footnote 2 - ‘Bogunda, one of the kangaroo hounds, was named after a favourite waterhole for fishing, below the Falls, Kooroorinya.’ Footnote 3 - ‘‘”Plenty work and parter” is another joke. “Parter” is either one of the aboriginal languages or else pigeon English for food.’"
Coordinates: 22°16'30.601200"S,144°34'42.398400"E (-22.275167, 144.578444)
Media copyright: British Museum Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Notes on coordinates: Approximate location of Towerhill Creek
IRN: EOC117521
Notes: PK: No more images to request from BM. 1.12.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue.
Media Files:
Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Nitzan Rotman