MARKK3561_07

Title: A message stick held in the Museum of Ethnology, Hamburg (MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum)

Description: MARKK register: "Botenstab" (Google translate: "messenger staff")

Date Created: 1907

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 Beagle Bay according to an email (7.10.2016) from Dr. Jeanette Kokott). On the museum's register the origin of the message stick is given simply as “Australia”.

Date collected: 1907

Institution/Holder file: Museum of Ethnology, Hamburg (MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum) object identifier: 3561:07

Collector: Donor/Seller: Klaatsch

Coordinates: 16°58'58.101600"S,122°39'54.698400"E  (-16.982806, 122.665194)

Media copyright: Museum of Ethnology, Hamburg (MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum)

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Beagle Bay, Western Australia, per Google maps. Wikipedia: Beagle Bay is a medium-sized Aboriginal community on the western side of the Dampier Peninsula, north of Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Beagle Bay was named in 1838 by John Clements Wickham, captain of HMS Beagle.

URL institution: https://markk-hamburg.de/files/media/2020/06/MARKK-OZ-bis-1920.pdf

Notes: 8.3.24 NR: collecting institution URL leads to "List 1: COLLECTION Oceania until 1920 (PDF)". You'll have to search for the item number. 30.4.24 NR: the following info was located in the "Master list of collecting institutions for the Australian Message stick project" Excel file - 7/10/2016 from Jeanette Kokott: "Regarding your enquiry about message sticks I can tell you that so far 2 objects which have already passed the initial steps of the current procedure (no contemporary photos available yet) are likely to match your request: 3561:07 is registered as messagestick from Beagle Bay and forms part of the Klaatsch collection. 16.79:1 is registered as Botenstab (Nachbildung); this replica was based on Fig. 1 on page 45 of Jahrbuch des Städt. Museums in Leipzig (unfortunately no year is mentioned)." Dr. Jeanette Kokott (040 4288 79-536) j.kokott@mvhamburg.de

Data Entry: Nitzan Rotman