BM_Oc2424

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

Description: British Museum description: Message stick incised with designs including images of ship, house, trees and topographic features; Message stick: a piece of yellow wood, oval in section, with scratched designs: on one side a house, and a wavy zigzag pattern &c: on the other a three masted vessel [ship] etc. Accompanying sketch: "North West Australia. Message stick; a piece of yellow wood, oval in section, with scratched designs: on one side a house, and a wavy zigzag pattern &tc: on the other a three masted vessel etc. From extreme N.W. of Australia."

Message: From Extreme N.W. of Australia Christy's notes on objects from F.D. Broome illustrate the message sticks donated, and include a note made in pencil: 'message sticks (or rather newspapers)'. A description of what could be depicted on this message stick appears in a book written by Broome's wife, Lady Broome, 'Remembered with Affection. A new edition of Lady Broome's "Letters to Guy" with notes and a short life by Alexandra Hasluck', Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1963, p. 115-6: Perhaps the "message sticks" are the most curious, with their smooth surface of which all the news of the place is neatly and carefully drawn. It looks like etching, and is done with a finely painted red-hot stick; it really is the newspaper of the district. You see the long strip of land, with its post and rail fence, or two or three rude houses which constitute the nucleus of what is going to be a great city, perhaps; or else there is an ummistakable bit of a harbour, and the fleet of pearlers is just coming in, with every sail set and a fair wind.There are some trees just indicated, men stand by an open grave, horses are picketed behind, and there is a rude cross in the corner, where a little clearing has been made to mark a former explorer's grave'.

Date Created: 1885

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: WA

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is given simply as “North-West Western Australia”. It therefore cannot be a associated with a linguistic area.

Cultural region: WA_unlocalisable

Dimension 1: 255mm Dimension 2: 22mm Dimension 3: 8mm

Materials: wood

Techniques: incised

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition date: 1885

Institution/Holder file: The British Museum object identifier: Oc,+.2424

Collector: Donated by: Sir Frederick Napier Broome Inscription: :Inscription content: ‘Extreme N.W. of W. Australia. F.N. Broome. 27.??.85.; Inscription note: Broome (1842–1896) was the Governor of Western Australia, 1883–9." Curator's comments : "See Christy Correspondence: Sketches of items acquired from Sir F Napier Broome 27 April 1885. Christy collection registration slip description, written in 1885?: North West Australia Message stick: a piece of yellow wood, oval in section, with scratched designs: on one side a house, and a wavy zigzag pattern &c: on the other a three masted vessel [ship] etc. From Extreme N.W. of Australia Christy's notes on objects from F.D. Broome illustrate the message sticks donated, and include a note made in pencil: 'message sticks (or rather newspapers)'. A description of what could be depicted on this message stick appears in a book written by Broome's wife, Lady Broome, 'Remembered with Affection. A new edition of Lady Broome's "Letters to Guy" with notes and a short life by Alexandra Hasluck', Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1963, p. 115-6: Perhaps the "message sticks" are the most curious, with their smooth surface of which all the news of the place is neatly and carefully drawn. It looks like etching, and is done with a finely painted red-hot stick; it really is the newspaper of the district. You see the long strip of land, with its post and rail fence, or two or three rude houses which constitute the nucleus of what is going to be a great city, perhaps; or else there is an unmistakable bit of a harbour, and the fleet of pearlers is just coming in, with every sail set and a fair wind.There are some trees just indicated, men stand by an open grave, horses are picketed behind, and there is a rude cross in the corner, where a little clearing has been made to mark a former explorer's grave'."

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

URL institution: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=509598&partId=1&searchText=message+stick&images=true&page=1

IRN: EOC5869

Notes: Additional IDs: Oc1885C2.2424-2425 (old CDMS no.) PK: No more images to request from BM. 4.12.23 NR: Bibliographic references : "Sculthorpe et al. 2015 / Indigenous Australia: Enduring Civilisation (p.165, fig.44); National Museum of Australia 2015 / Encounters. Revealing Stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Objects from the British Museum; Sculthorpe et al 2021 / Ancestors, artefacts, empire: Indigenous Australia in British and Irish Museums (p. 124, fig. 12.3)." 4.12.23 NR: checked against BM online catalogue.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Nitzan Rotman