RHH1918P25F24

Title: Sketch of a message stick by Hamlyn-Harris (1918) and later reproduced by M.Frank (1940)

Description: Sketch of message stick on p.30-31, Fig.24, of "On messages and "Message Sticks" employed among the Queensland Aborigines" by R. Hamlyn-Harris: "This stick was obtained by Bishop White (when Bishop of Carpentaria) on the Daly waters, and donated by him to the Queensland Museum. its interest lies in the fact that, just as the Bishop was leaving Darwin by coach, an aboriginal boy brought this stick to the diver and ask him to deliver it to another blackboy at Daly waters with this message:"Want 'em pretty fellow alonga head, boomerang." Bishop White was so interested in the matter that he undertook to deliver the stick, but withheld the verbal message until he had satisfied himself that the receiver of the message had some knowledge of what the stick was [30] supposed to convey. Bishop White said he was no little surprised to find that the boy interpreted the request for head-bands and boomerangs correctly. Since the accuracy of this instance is vouched for by the integrity of such a well-known cleric, we may also presume that the stick probably contained some mention of an exchange and the name of the boy by whom it had been sent. The stick is made of pine and has 22 or 23 notches respectively on each side; for the ret, crosses and a few bars complete the writing." (p.31) Sketch of message stick (fig. 24) on p. 345 in Maria Frank's "Botenstäbe in Australien"

Message: Hamlyn-Harris, p.30-31: "'Want 'em pretty fellow alonga head, boomerang.' [...] request for head-bands and boomerangs. [...] the stick probably contained some mention of an exchange and the name of the boy by whom it had been sent." Frank, 1940, p. 340: "Der Botenstab von Fig. 24 ist von besonderem Interesse, da er von Bischof White vom Carpentaria auf seine Richtigkeit geprüft wurde (42, S. 30). Als dieser einst Darwin verließ, brachte ein eingeborener Knabe diesen Stock und bat einen Kutscher denselben einem anderen Knaben am Daly water zu überbringen. Bischof White interessieite sich sehr fur die Sache und ubernahm den Stock selbst. Bei der Übergabe wußte der Knabe genau, was sein Freund von ihm verlange. Die Botschaft lautete im Pitehen-Englisch: "Want'em pretty fellow alonga head, boomerang." Er wünsehte somit Kopfbänder und Bumerangs. Bumerangs werden in Westaustralien öfter durch schiefe Kreuze dargestellt, wie sie auch auf dem in Frage stehenden Stab an gegeben sind. Es würde sich hier um 17 Bumerangs handeln, da die Zahl der Kreuze auf beiden Seiten 17 ist. Außer den Kreuzzeichen sind nur noch drei verschieden lange gerade Striche vorhanden, die vielleicht die Kopf bänder bedeuten können". Translation JB: "The message stick (Fig.24) is of particular interest because it has been reviewed by Bishop White of Carpentaria for accuracy (42, S.30). When he was leaving Darwin, a native boy brought this message stick and asked a coachman to deliver it to another boy at Daly water. Bishop White took much interest in the matter and took over the matter himself. When Bishop White handed the stick over to the boy at Daly water, he knew exactly what his friend wanted of him. The message was in Pitehen English: "Want'em pretty fellow alonga head, boomerang." He wanted headbands and boomerangs. Boomerangs in Western Australia are more often represented by oblique crosses, as the ones in the message stick in question. There would be 17 boomerangs here, as the number of crosses is 17 on both sides. Apart from the cross symbols, there are only three straight lines of different lengths that may mean the head bands."

Creator of Object: Sender: "an aboriginal boy in Darwin" Recipient: "another blackboy at Daly" (p. 30)

Date Created: 1918

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: image of a message stick (artefact missing)

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: NT

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Larrakia Austlang: N21 - Larrakia Glottolog: lara1258

Linguistic area 2: Chirila: Jingulu Austlang: C22 - Jingulu Glottolog: djin1251

Notes on linguistic areas: Note that linguistic areas are given for source and destination of message stick. They do not necessarily indicate the ethnolinguistic affiliations of sender and recipient.

Cultural region: TopEnd

Semantic domains: sd_item_headband, sd_person_messenger, sd_request_item, sd_weapon_boomerang

Dimension 1: 112mm Dimension 2: 13mm Dimension 3: 10mm

Materials: pine wood

Sources:

Frank, Maria. 1940. "Botenstäbe in Australien."

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

Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 6:13-36.

Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 72 (4/6): 328-352.

Collector: This stick was obtained by Bishop White (when Bishop of Carpentaria) on the Daly waters, and donated by him to the Queensland Museum (p. 30).

Coordinates: 12°27'48.200400"S,130°50'44.199600"E  (-12.463389, 130.845611)

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Darwin

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

Notes: PK: This is probably in the Queensland Museum PK: Gilbert White was Bishop of Carpentaria between 1900 and 1915 when he moved to South Australia to head up the new Willochra diocese. Therefore, this incident occurred between 1900 and 1915. PK: Piers Kelly discusses this in a seminar at theUniversity of Melbourne, 4–5pm, Friday 5 November 2021 (https://youtu.be/7KaF3XiC43s)

Media Files:

Data Entry: Julia Bespamyatnykh