Coordinates WGS84 | 25°02'S, 132°16'E -25.03, 132.27 |
Title: A message stick from Northern Territory held in the Grassi Museum Leipzig
Description: Botenstab (nulla-nulla) aus hellem Holz, mit eingebrachten Mustern. Moderne Arbeit [A message stick (nulla-nulla) made of light wood with patterns carved on its surface] "Ist wohl eine Nachbilduhng eines Kampfstockes!" [Seems to be an imitation of a fighting stick] The stick is a part of the collection of the Grassi Museum Leipzig, catalogue Au 3783
Date Created: 1963
Notes on date created: terminus ante quem
Item type: message stick in a collection
State/Territory: NT
Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with Angas Downs Station, Northern Territory
Term for 'message stick' (or related) in language: nulla-nulla
Dimension 1: 255mm
Materials: wood
Source types: museum collection
Date collected: Acquisition date 1963
Institution/Holder file: The Grassi Museum Leipzig object identifier: Au 3783
Collector: Donated by: Fred Rose
Coordinates: 25°02'4.099200"S,132°16'26.400000"E (-25.034472, 132.274)
Media copyright: The Grassi Museum Leipzig
Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Angus Downs Homestead, Northern Territory. Wikipedia: Angas Downs Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is an Aboriginal Australian-owned 320,500-hectare pastoral lease, within the MacDonnell Shire area, 300 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs.
Notes: Style is typical of the punu being produced in the 1960s at Angas Downs (see Palmer, Shannyn. 2016. (un)making Angas Downs. Canberra: Australian National University PhD dissertation.) The commentary on the card file is interesting, especially the designation as a 'nulla nulla' and the observation that it seems to be a replica of a fighting stick. Is this a mislabled object, or a nulla nulla that has been repurposed as a message stick?
Media Files:
Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly, Nitzan Rotman