Coordinates WGS8422°09'S, 145°45'E
-22.15, 145.76

PRM1989_46_4

Title: A message stick from Queensland held in the Pitt Rivers Museum, elsewhere reproduced by A.W. Howitt and M.Frank

Description: Message stick holder: Pitt Rivers Museum, "Message stick incised with crisscross lines and painted with Reckitt's laundry blue."; Two sketches of the same message stick (fig. 15 and fig. 16) in 'Notes on Australian message sticks' (Howitt 1889) and 'The native tribes of southeast Australia' (Howitt 1904). Sketch of message stick (fig. 9) on p. 345 in Maria Frank's "Botenstäbe in Australien"

Message: The following instance will show how message sticks are used in this tribe, figs. 15 and 16, Plate XIV, represent one which was sent by one of the Wakelbura, to a member of the Yangebura tribe at Blackall. The stick being sent by an Obu is Gidyea [Acacia homalophylla], timber being Wutheru. The message refers to game, (a) being for Emu, (b) for Wallaby, to be found near a certain wire netting fence, (c) on a station near Clermont. The marks on the stick do not convey their meaning without a verbal message. The man who takes the stick explains their meaning. If the stick were sent by a Mallera, everything marked on the stick would be Mallera, and it would be delivered to a Mallera. But the above described and figured stick was sent by Obu to Obu. The sticks are always painted, this one was coloured blue. (Howitt 1889, p. 326) "Figs. 15 and 16. Message stick from a man of the Wakelbura tribe to a man of the Yangebura tribe, Queensland, inviting him to visit the sender to hunt for game near a certain wire netting fence erected on a sheep run, (a) Emu, (b) Wallaby, (c) the wire netting fence. One-fourth scale." (Howitt 1889, p. 332) "The message-stick was sent by a Tarrima of the Wakelbura tribe to one of the Yangebura tribe at Blackall. The message referred to game which was to be found in abundance within a wire fence erected near Clermont, and was to invite the Yangebura to come and kill game there." (Howitt 1904, p. 694) "Einladungen durch Botenstäbe können auch ergehen an andere Lokalgruppen, wenn eine Treibjagd auf Emus oder Wallabys veranstaltet werden soll, Fig. 9. So berichtet es Edge Partington (54, Nr. 8) von den Wakelbura." (Frank, Maria. 1940. “Botenstäbe in Australien.” p. 335) Translation: "Invitations with the help of message sticks can also be sent to other local tribes in case of a tribal hunt for emus or wallabies, fig. 9. This is reported by Edge Partington (54, No. 8) about Wakelbura." (tranls. Olena Tykhostup)

Creator of Object: Sender: "a Tarrima of the Wakelbura tribe" Recipient: "one of the Yangebura tribe at Blackall" (Howitt 1904, p.694)

Date Created: 1883

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Yagalingu Austlang: E43 - Yagalingu Glottolog: wadj1255

Linguistic area 2: Chirila: Wadjalang Austlang: D45 - Wadjalang

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with the “Yangebura tribe, Queensland": "Message stick from a man of the Wakelbura tribe to a man of the Yangebura tribe, Queensland" (Howitt 1889, p. 332) Wakelbura corresponds to Yagalingu, but there is no evidence for what Yangebura refers to, except for the fact that it is located at Blackall which is in the Wadjalang area (D45: Wadjalang). Harald wrote: "Yagalingu falls under the language level entry Wadjigu [wadj1255] wdu. Maybe there should be a dialect level entry Yagalingu -- I am ignorant on that matter (but at present there isn't)." Claire wrote: "Yagalingu is probably the same as Belyando in my tree (related to Barna and Biri). Looks like it should be in East Maric. Again, Harald will have to say why he chose Biri, Gangulu, and Giya as opposed to other variety names."

Semantic domains: sd_acculturation, sd_activity_hunting, sd_animal_emu, sd_animal_wallaby, sd_fence, sd_game, sd_person_recipient, sd_person_sender, sd_request_invitation

Dimension 1: 235mm Dimension 2: 25mm

Materials: pigment, wood plant

Techniques: incised, painted (blue)

Sources:

  • Frank, Maria. 1940. "Botenstäbe in Australien."
  • Howitt, A. W. 1889. “Notes on Australian Message Sticks and Messengers”. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 18. [Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Wiley]: 314–32
  • Howitt, A. W. 1904. The native tribes of southeast Australia. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited.
  • Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 72 (4/6): 328-352.
  • Source types: book chapter, journal article, museum collection

    Date collected: August 1883

    Institution/Holder file: Pitt Rivers Museum object identifier: 1989.46.4

    Collector: Field Collector: James C. Muirhead Other Owners: Alfred William Howitt, James C. Muirhead PRM Source: Alfred William Howitt via Edward Burnett Tylor? Acquired: Found unentered 1989, Donated 1888

    Coordinates: 22°08'50.370000"S,145°45'24.408000"E  (-22.147325, 145.75678)

    Media copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum

    Notes on coordinates: Chirila centroid coordinates for Yagalingu

    URL source 1: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-26171094

    URL source 2: http://objects.prm.ox.ac.uk/pages/PRMUID5157.html

    Notes: OT: Maria Frank refers to Partington, James Edge and Heape: Ethnological Album of the Pacific Islands, I, II, III; Manchester 1898; the author is unrelaible, the original source is not checked. Pitt Rivers Museum Catalogue: "Accession entry - Message stick incised with crisscross lines and painted with Reckitt's laundry blue. This was sent from a man of the Wakelbura to one of the Yangebura at Blackall, inviting him to join the 'writer' in a hunt for game (emu and wallaby) near a certain wire fence on Mr. Wallace's station near Clermont. The sender belonged to the Obu class (or totem) and the wood is therefore of a kind (ACACIA HOMALOPHYLLA) which belongs to the same class, as are the game referred to. Related Documents File - Article written by A.W. Howitt entitled: 'Notes on Australian Message Sticks and Messengers' from JAI Volume XVIII 1889 [See file for full text.] [ZM 6/1/2016] Display history: Possibly displayed at the PRM from as early as 1888 with other examples from the Howitt collection of message-sticks (1989.46) (see photograph A23.F11.1, taken in 1995). [JC 11 1 2006] Loaned to the Crafts Council for their exhibition Codes and Messages: Lettering Today, held at the Crafts Council Gallery, Islington, London, from 30 November 1995 to 4 February 1996. [JC] Publications history, trails & websites: Illustrated as figures 15 and 16 in Plate XIV (entitled 'Australian Message Sticks') opposite page 331 of 'Notes on Australian Message Sticks and Messengers', by A. W. Howitt, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, Vol XVIII, 1889, pp. 314-332. (Copy in RDF). NB The original pencil drawings by Alfred Robinson used to produce the figures in Plate XIV are held in the PRM Manuscript Collections: Pitt Rivers Museum Papers / Box 2 / 1-3. [JC 20 9 2000, 17 6 2008] Described as Figs. 15 and 16. Message stick from a man of the Wakelbura tribe, to a man of the Yangebura tribe, Queensland, inviting him to visit the sender to hunt for game near a certain wire netting fence erected on a sheep run, (a) Emu, (b) Wallaby, (c) the wire netting fence. One-fourth scale. [AP 14/02/2013] Illustrated in colour on page 4 of Codes and Messages: Lettering Today, London: Crafts Council, 1995 (catalogue published to accompany an exhibition of the same name). See display information. [JC] [ZM 04/03/2008] Research notes: Described in Tylor papers Box 12 PRM ms collections Howitt 11 as 'August 8 1883 ... (2) Message stick sent to me by Mr JF [insert] J.C. [end insert] Muirhead--used by the Wakelbura tribe. All message sticks are painted. This stick was sent by an Oboo of the Wakelbura to one of the Yangebura tribe (at Blackall). The wood is this of Bedyea tree--which belongs to the Wooltheroo class--of which Oboo is a subclass. The message refers to killing game found in a fenced paddock at Mr Wallaces station near Clermont. The game is Emu and Wallaby which are both of the Wooltheroo class and therefore claimed by Oboo and Wongoo. The messenger delivers a verbal message. The marks are according to Mr Muirhead as follows: [2 drawings, the first marked 'Wallaby' and 'Emu' besides the stripes of decoration, the 2nd drawing is annotated 'This indicates the wire fence at Kilcommon Station'] [2] [2] James C. Muirhead. Note that there is correspondence between Muirhead and Howitt at AIATSIS Howitt papers. I can find nothing else about him. Wallace's station refers to Donald Smith Wallace (1844-1900), and his station (Kilcommon?) near Clermont. He represented Clermont in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1883-1888. [AP 06/02/2013] In 1840 Isaac Reckitt rented a starch mill in hull, subsequently purchased in 1848, extending into other household products including washing blue, a bleaching agent. This became the family business Reckitt and Sons, which expanded into the overseas market, opening a business in Australia in 1886. There are examples of Australian Aboriginal material culture that use Reckitt's blue throughout Australia, including rock art at Nourlangie Rock, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory. For further information see http://www.hullwebs.co.uk/content/l-20c/industry/reckitts/reckitt-cronology.htm [ZM 04/03/2008]" PK mentioned this object in a talk at the University of Cologne on 15.11.2018 and said: "I also want to point out how far this stick is travelling. Unfortunately I don’t have a scale here. But it’s going from here [SLIDE: map Clermont] all the way down to Blackall which is about 270 km as a direct line of travel."

    Media Files:

    Data Entry: Piers Kelly, Julia Bespamyatnykh