QM_QE1942

Title: A message stick from the Burdekin River in the Queensland Museum Kurilpa

Description: Sketch of message stick on p.19 of "On messages and "Message Sticks" employed among the Queensland Aborigines" by R. Hamlyn-Harris: "This stick has 37 notches on each side. Both surfaces are marked with extreme care, the small hole having been made with either shell or stone drills. On the obverse side three club shields are well defined, with a varying number of short double marks over each shield. On the reverse, there are three boomerangs with one double mark inside each boomerang. Message unknown."

Date Created: 1897-12-16

Notes on date created: This is the date given in QM spreadsheet, but in register the accession date is March 16, 1913

Item type: message stick in a collection

State/Territory: QLD

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with the Burdekin River, Queensland

Dimension 1: 140mm Dimension 2: 17mm

Materials: ironbark

Sources:

Hamlyn Harris, R. 1918. “On messages and ‘message sticks’ employed among the Queensland Aborigines.”

Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 6:13-36.

Institution/Holder file: Queensland Museum Kurilpa object identifier: QE1942

Coordinates: 19°46'50.901600"S,146°01'0.598800"E  (-19.780806, 146.016833)

Notes on coordinates: Approximate mid point of Burdekin River, per Google maps

URL source 1: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/47577#page/51/mode/1up

Notes: QM REGISTER

Date: March 16, 1913

Registration no: 1942

Name or Description: Message stick, serrated edges

Locality: Burdekin R. Q.

From Whom Acquired: Isles, Love & Co.

How Acquired: Pur:171

References to Papers: Old Coll. 970

Destination:

Remarks:

OTHER COMMENTS

04.02.2026 PK: Previously RHH1918P19F2

Media Files:

Data Entry: Julia Bespamyatnykh, Nitzan Rotman