BM_Oc1939_08_31

Title: A message stick from Northern Territory held in the British Museum

Description: Message stick made of wood with square section. Coloured red with white pigment rubbed into the incisions.

Date Created: 1912

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem; 1900-1912 (circa)

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional_context

State/Territory: NT

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Wurrugu Austlang: N37 - Wurrugu Glottolog: wurr1238

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with Port Essington, Northern Territory (Australia)

Cultural region: TopEnd_cobourg

Dimension 1: 44mm Dimension 2: 11mm Dimension 3: 11mm

Materials: wood

Techniques: pigmented

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date: 1939

Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc1939,08.31

Collector: Donated by: Gregory M Mathews Field Collection by: John P Rogers Acquisition notes: "Register reads, for collection Oc1939,08: Collected by H P Rogers, ornithologist, before 1914, in Australia. However inspection of the original correspondence from Mathews reveals that this should be J P Rogers, who was Mathews' ornithological collector in Northern Australia."

Coordinates: 11°21'49.701600"S,132°08'50.100000"E  (-11.363806, 132.14725)

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

Notes on coordinates: Approximate coordinates for Port Essington (at a point near the Victoria settlement)

URL institution: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Oc1939-08-31

IRN: EOC81457

Notes: PK: No more images to request from BM. 30.11.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly, Nitzan Rotman