Title: A message stick from Queensland held in the National Museums Liverpool
Description: Pers. comm. M. S-F: "The stick was collected by James Trackson around 1887. It includes a hand written message on paper in an Aboriginal dialect and was apparently translated in English by a gentleman named Mr W. Souter in 1887." (7 August 2020) "If I remember correctly, the note which accompanied the stick was written on the back of an old newspaper advert or article. It is an invitation to a feast and I think there is map drawn in pencil to indicate the location of the feast. The stick and message were sent to Norwich Castle Museum with a letter from James Trackson in 1896. The original documents are all kept in our archives and I would be happy to send you copies of these." (13 August 2020)
Message: Circumstantially it appears that the interpretation that accompanies this object was invented by W. Souter: "Blackfellow down the river having a feast (corroberie) plenty of fish and big bullock sing song, tribe of blacks from the Norman river are down on the flat waiting to have a big fight when plenty of hair will be obtained - a big Bush fire to the setting sun from the camp (evidently westward) “Koombamba” (evidently name of tribe) set fire to the Bush which is spread over a large tract of country and will drive game towards the camp - a large lagoon (stretch of water) is to the east of the camp containing plenty of fish but no “Bunyip” (a water demon) “Koongarra” plenty and very fat (this possibly represents cattle) attend the feast all who can and bring “Kaambra” with you (weapons)."
Date Created: 1887
Notes on date created: terminus ante quem
Item type: message stick in a collection
Subtype: traditional
State/Territory: QLD
Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is given simply as “Norman River”. It therefore cannot be associated with a linguistic area. Norman River flows through the Ngawun and Mbara linguistic areas. (Note that in the original Chirila coordinates, the Ngawun centroid should be shifted to the east so that it occupies the Ngawun polygon and the Mayi-Kulan centroid point needs to be shifted north so that it occupies the Mayi-Kulan polygon.) Ascertaining the traditional owners may involve knowing where James Trackson was on the Norman River. Nothing immediately comes up in Trove.
Institution/Holder file: National Museums Liverpool object identifier: 56.24.497
Media copyright: National Museums Liverpool
Notes: I can find only one reference to a W. Souter in the archives and it appears as: W. Souter. "The speculative causes of the apparent degeneration of the Australian blacks", Royal Geographic Society of Australasia, Queensland Branch, 26 August 1892. This is in the citation list to Evans, Raymond, Kay Saunders, and Kathryn Cronin. [1975] 1993. Race relations in colonial Queensland: A history of exclusion, exploitation and extermination. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press. Note that W. Souter is also spelled Soutter and his full name is William Soutter. The fullest possible account of this message stick is in PK's Google doc: "STORY: Notes on the Norman River message stick"
Data Entry: Piers Kelly