CL1889P304A2

Title: Message stick sent by Nowwanjung requesting that her husband Carralinga comes to get her

Description: Sketch of message stick on p. 304 of “Among cannibals” by C. Lumholtz. "I am also fortunate in being able to give an illustration of another message stick (p. 304), with the interpretation of its inscription, which conveys a message from a black woman named Nowwanjung to her husband Carralinga of the Woongo tribe. [Wuŋgu section]" p.303.

Message: «Carralinga [Wuŋgu section] is requested to come to [place] tomorrow to get Nowwanjung». The first notch represents the recipient of the stick, Carralinga, the zigzag shaped notches in the middle mean "come here tomorrow and take", the final notch represents the sender, Nowwanjung.

Creator of Object: Sender: "a black woman named Nowwanjung" Recipient: "her husband Carralinga of the Woongo tribe" (p. 303)

Date Created: 1883

Notes on date created: date span of fieldwork; 1882-08 to 1883-07

Item type: image of a message stick (artefact missing)

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Warrgamay Austlang: Y134 - Warrgamay^ Glottolog: warr1255

Notes on linguistic areas: According to R. Sumner (Sumner, R. 1977. "‘Among cannibals’: Carl Lumholtz in North Queensland." Journal of Australian Studies 1 (1):84-90.) Lumholtz made his headquarters at Herbert Vale, an abandoned station between the Valley of Lagoons and Cardwell; in some sources it is referred to as Vale of Herbert Station. Sumner's map places this at the approximate location of Abergowrie (18°28'25.1"S 145°53'01.6"E) and this accords with Lumholtz's own address to the Geographical Society in Hamburg that he was on the Herbert River at latitude 18 degrees south. This would place Lumholtz in Warrgamay country. The recipient of the message stick is identified as a Carralinga, a man of the "Woongo tribe". Woongo, is however a section term in Warrgamay. Note also: Lumholtz, Carl. 1888. "Réponse alinéa par alinéa, pour les Australiens de Herbert- River, au questionnaire de sociologie et d'ethnographie de la Société." Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris 11:648-666. "J'avais établi mon quartier général à Herbert-River, par 18 degrés de latitude sud, et je rayonnais de là vers l'ouest et le nord-ouest, accompagné dans toutes mes expéditions par des sauvages". 648

Semantic domains: sd_activity_takeperson, sd_person_recipient, sd_person_sender, sd_time_tomorrow

Sources:

Lumholtz, Carl. 1889. Among cannibals: an account of four years' travels in Australia and of camp life with the aborigines of Queensland. New York: C. Scribner's Co.

Coordinates: 18°28'25.100400"S,145°53'1.600800"E  (-18.473639, 145.883778)

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Abergowrie in the vicinity of Herbert Vale Station.

URL source 1: https://www.archive.org/stream/bub_gb_oJgLAQAAIAAJ?ref=ol#page/n361/

URL source 2: https://archive.org/stream/amongcannibalsac1889lumh#page/304/

Notes: In the text, only schematic interpretation is provided, therefore, no quotation in "interpretation" field (OT) 29.01.24 PK: Compare this with BM_Oc1901_1221_18. Is it the same sender? Nowunjunger versus Nowwanjung and different part of Queensland but worth investigating.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly