MusV_X_000970

Title: A Wakka Wakka message stick at the centre of an alleged plot to free a condemned prisoner in Brisbane Gaol

Description: Sketch of message stick on p354 of R. Brough Smythe's 'Aborigines of Victoria'

Original register (at MusV): "Date received: ?1894. 970. Message Stick. Very small. dark wood with deep incision lines.

The lines cut on it are said to convey the following intelligence: "Two blackfellows come up in two days, seventeen days ago. One blackfellow come up to where this fellow (Jacob) sit down. The track shown on the stick means that from the place where the blackfellows set out to Brisbane. The message means that the aboriginals were takingsteps to aid Jacob in some attempt to escape." This is the tranlsation which was given by Charbig, a native trouper, before a court in Queensland. "Jacob" was in prison. Queensland. Figured in Brough Smyth's "Aborigines of Victoria" Fig 171 p. 354."

MusV object description, PDF: "Very small. Of dark wood with deep incised lines."

Message: A native trooper, belonging to another part of the country, gave an interpretation of the symbols. (p. 354), "" Charbig" the native trooper, said that the symbols conveyed the following: intelligence — "Two blackfellows come up in two days seventeen days ago. One blackfellow come up to where this fellow (Jacob) sit down. The track shown on the stick means that from the place where the blackfellows set out to Brisbane. The message means that the Aboriginals were taking steps to aid Jacob in some attempt at escape." (p. 355)

Creator of Object: Recipient: "An Aboriginal named Jacob" (p354)

Date Created: 1870

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Waka Waka Austlang: E28 - Wakka Wakka Glottolog: waka1274

Semantic domains: sd_journey, sd_request_help, sd_time

Dimension 1: 120mm Dimension 2: 70mm Dimension 3: 10mm

Sources:

1904 ‘SKETCHER.’, The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), 23 July, p. 27. , viewed 30 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22267154

Brough Smythe, R. 1878. The Aborigines of Victoria: With notes relating to the habits of natives of other parts of Australia and Tasmania. Vol. I. Melbourne & London: John Ferres.

National Gallery of Victoria. 1878. Catalogue of the objects of ethnotypical art in the National Gallery published by direction of the trustees of the public library and museums of Victoria. Melbourne: Mason, Firth & M'Cutcheon.

Source types: book

Institution/Holder file: Museums Victoria object identifier: X 970

Collector: It was sent to me [Brough Smythe] by Mr. N. Bartley, who says, in a letter dated 21st June 1870, that it was given to him by the Honorable R. Pring, Q.C., Attorney-General of the colony. (p.354)

Coordinates: 25°37'34.899600"S,151°36'42.199200"E  (-25.626361, 151.611722)

Media copyright: Museums Victoria

Notes on coordinates: Exact coordinates for the town of Gayndah

URL source 1: http://archive.org/details/aboriginesofvict01smyt/page/354/mode/2up?view=theater

URL source 2: https://archive.org/details/catalogueobject00unkngoog/page/n54/mode/2up

Notes: MusV data from spreadsheet: X 000970, Message stick, Brisbane, Southeast Queensland, Queensland, Australia, Registered [X 970] Source Unrecorded (Unknown Acquisition Method) Brisbane Queensland Previous AMSD ID: RBS1878P354F171

This is the first ever object to be described in print as a message stick (Brough Smythe 1878)

AR: Dimensions added from MV PDF: 120 x 70 x 10

09.08.2024 PK: All notes relevant to the history of this object are now in the Google Doc titled STORY: The Brisbane Gaol message stick of the project folder.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Piers Kelly, Alexandra Roginski