CPM1958P103F6F

Title: A message stick from Melville Island, reproduced by Mountford (1958)

Description: This purunkita (Fig. 6F) was sent to the March-fly totemic centre at Kudja­tumpi, southern Melville Island. The designs on the message stick were painted, instead of being engraved, because of the difficulty of cutting the circular patterns. The white circles and ovals, a, a, are backwaters and lagoons at the mouth of the freshwater stream at Kudjatumpi and the star-shaped designs, lilies growing on the surface of the water. (p. 103)

Message: Motifs are glossed but no message can be determined

Date Created: 1954

Notes on date created: Year of the National Geographic Expedition to Melville Island

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

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: NT

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Tiwi Austlang: N20 - Tiwi Glottolog: tiwi1244

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with the March-fly totemic centre at Kudja­tumpi, southern Melville Island. Kudjatumpi cannot be found on any map. Approximate coordinates are given for southern Melville Island.

Cultural region: TopEnd_tiwi

Term for 'message stick' (or related) in language: purunkita

Sources:

Charles P. Mountford (1958). The Tiwi: their Art Myth and Ceremony. London Phoenix Melbourne: Georgian House.

Source types: book

Coordinates: 11°51'18.500400"S,130°57'34.498800"E  (-11.855139, 130.959583)

Notes on coordinates: Approximate coordinates for southern Melville Island

Media Files:

Data Entry: Julia Bespamyatnykh, Piers Kelly