RHH1918P25F26

Title: Sketch of a message stick by Hamlyn-Harris (1918), and Frank (1940)

Description: Sketch of message stick on p.31-32, Fig.26, of "On messages and "Message Sticks" employed among the Queensland Aborigines" by R. Hamlyn-Harris: "[...] the lines are cut deeply and irregularly. The obverse surface is convex, and has a number of zigzag with four deeply cut lines in the centre, and on the side fifteen notches. The reverse surface is flat." Sketch of message stick (fig. 12) in Maria Frank's "Botenstäbe in Australien" (p. 345)

Message: Hamlyn-Harris: "This contains an invitation to the Boroloola to a ceremony, "Jundee", and records the number of boys to be invited." (p. 31) Frank, p. 335: "Von einigen Botenstäben mit ähnlichem Inhalt [Knabenweihen] wird auch von den Eingeborenen am Arthur-Fluß (31, S. 31) berichtet. Von den Kerben (s. Fig. 12) bedeuten die tiefer eingeritzten die Zahl der Initianten, die hier 15 beträgt." Translation JB: "Some messengers with similar content [boy initiation invitation] are also reported by the natives of the Arthur River (31, p. 31). Of the notches (see Fig. 12), the more deeply engraved ones indicate the number of initiators, which is 15 here."

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: Binbinka Austlang: N138 - Binbinka Glottolog: binb1242

Notes on linguistic areas: The linguistic area is estimated on the basis of Borroloola and MacArthur River.

Semantic domains: sd_ceremony_law, sd_person_boy, sd_request_invitation_ceremony_law

Dimension 1: 167mm Dimension 2: 14-21mm

Materials: leichhardt pine wood

Techniques: ochred

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.

Coordinates: 16°02'16.990800"S,135°50'34.850400"E  (-16.038053, 135.843014)

Notes on coordinates: Chirila centroid coordinates for Binbinka

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

Notes: JB: Frank cites Emory, E. K.: Stone Remains in the Society Islands (Bernice P. Bishop Mus. Bull. 116, Honolulu, Hawaii 1933). PK: compare guanlim

Media Files:

Data Entry: Julia Bespamyatnykh