BM_Oc1950_03_1

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

Description: Message stick made of wood with designs of lines and opposed triangles formed by punctured dots.

Date Created: 1903

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 Rottnest Island, Western Australia

Dimension 1: 187mm Dimension 2: 13mm Dimension 3: 13mm

Materials: wood

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date: 1950

Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc1950,03.1

Collector: Donated by: William Allnutt Curator's comments: "Rottnest Island was used as a 'native prison' and forced labour camp for Aboriginal men from 1838 until 1903." Acquisition notes: Comment in register: "From the dispersed collection of an old ex-jailor of the one-time Native Prison settlement on Rottnest Island, about 15 miles off the coast from Freemantle."

Coordinates: 32°12.499200"S,115°30'56.001600"E  (-32.003472, 115.515556)

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

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Rottnest Island, Western Australia

URL institution: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=494518&partId=1&searchText=message+stick&images=true&page=1

IRN: EOC21332

Notes: Additional IDs: Oc1950,03.1-2 (Previous group record) PK: No new images to request from BM. 4.12.23 NR: Bibliographic references: Sculthorpe et al. 2015 / Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation (p.176, fig.59); Sculthorpe et al 2021 / Ancestors, artefacts, empire: Indigenous Australia in British and Irish Museums (p. 193, fig. 18.11). 4.12.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Nitzan Rotman

Related Entries: BM_Oc1950_03_2