| Coordinates WGS84 | 16°18'S, 143°39'E -16.30, 143.65 |
PRM1989_46_8
Title: A message stick from North Queensland held in the Pitt Rivers Museum, and reproduced by A.W. Howitt (1889)
Description: Message stick holder: Pitt Rivers Museum; Two sketches of the same message stick showing front and back facets (fig. 6 and fig. 7) in Howitt's 'Notes on Australian message sticks'.
Message: The one given in figs. 6 and 7 of Plate XIV, represents the front and reverse of a message stick sent by a blackfellow at the Flinders River to another at the Mitchell River, to inform him that his wife was dead. (Howitt 1889, p. 327) "These are examples of the more ornamented class message sticks which are used in some places." (Howitt 1889, p. 327) "Figs. 6 and 7. Message stick sent by a man at the Flinders River in North Queensland, to a friend at the Mitchell River, to inform him that his wife was ill. Half scale."(p.331-332) "Message stick sent by a man at Flinders River to a friend at Mitchell River, to inform him that his wife was dead, the white pipeclay (the mourning colour) being symbolically used to denote death. Kugobathi" (PRM Catalogue)
Date Created: 1889
Notes on date created: terminus ante quem
Item type: message stick in a collection
Subtype: traditional
State/Territory: QLD
Linguistic area 2: Chirila: Gugu Mini Austlang: Y94 - Kuku Mini Glottolog: gugu1257
Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with the “Kugobathi tribe": "the Kugobathi tribe, at the Mitchell River which flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria" (Howitt 1889, p.327) "Message stick sent by a man at the Flinders River in North Queensland, to a friend at the Mitchell River" (p. 331-332) PK: According to Tindale Koogobatha and Koogobathy are synonyms for Kuku Mini The specific location or linguistic area on the Flinders River is not noted. If upriver it could be Ngawun. Downriver it could be Kukatj or Kuthant
Semantic domains: sd_illness, sd_person_woman_wife
Dimension 1: 58mm Dimension 2: 10mm
Materials: kaolin clay, wood plant
Techniques: incised carved
Source types: book article, museum collection
Date collected: August 1883
Institution/Holder file: Pitt Rivers Museum object identifier: 1989.46.8
Collector: Field Collector: Edward Palmer Other Owners: Alfred William Howitt PRM Source: Alfred William Howitt via Edward Burnett Tylor? Acquired: Found unentered 1989, Donated 1888
Coordinates: 16°17'50.499600"S,143°39'10.137600"E (-16.297361, 143.652816)
Media copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum
Notes on coordinates: Chirila coordinates for Gugu Mini (the destination of message stick, not origin)
URL institution: http://objects.prm.ox.ac.uk/pages/PRMUID5161.html
URL source 1: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-26171094
Notes: PRM Catalogue: "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 figure 7 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] Research notes: Described in Tylor papers Box 12 PRM ms collections Howitt 11 as 'August 8 1883 ... Message stick sent by a Flinders River blackfellow to another at the Mitchell River to say his wife was dead. From Mr Palmer. [3] [AP 06/02/2013]"
Media Files:
Data Entry: Piers Kelly