SAM_A_16447

Title: A message stick from the Glyde River invoicing payment for cypress pines, held in the South Australian Museum

Description: Message stick from the South Australian Museum

Message: Message stick was sent by native men asking for tobacco and calico in exchange for cypress pine trees felled. Handwritten register AA298 Vol 4 A10001-17800: "sent by native men asking for tobacco and calico in exchange for cypress pine trees felled:— [annotated sketch] man speaking... calico ... man speaking Xs. ... calico ... large cypress pine, number of ... small cypress pine, numbers of "

Date Created: 1931

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem; 1931-03-31

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: NT

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Djinang Austlang: N94.1 - Djinang Glottolog: djin1253

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Glyde River, Northern Territory, Australia. This is mostly in the Ganalbingu linguistic area. However, note that in the SAM register the 'Purchased Tribe' is listed as 'Katji'. Katji refers to a place and is not an ethnonym. In Peterson, Nicolas. 1976. "Mortuary customs of Northeast Arnhem Land: An account compiled from Donald Thomson’s fieldnotes." Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria 37:97-108, there is a quotation from a report: "While at Katji [on the mainland south of Milingimbi] camp in January 1937 Thomson noticed red blazes on the trees along the path to Derby Creek. These were to free the area about the Katji River from a restriction that had been imposed at the death of an important man.". A herpetology report (https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/85b6a616-2ca6-48fb-bddb-317dbaf3a430) gives coordinates for a 'Katji Lagoon' as: -12.35, 134.78, which is near a 'Gatji Rd'. Gatji is also the name of a homeland (https://bushtel.nt.gov.au/profile/507) at -12.273, 134.82. In the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation Annual Report 2016-2017, Gatji is mapped as being in the Wurlaki/Djinang (synonyms) area which also encompasses Ramingining and east to the mouth of the Glyde River. Thus the best estimation so far is that the cultural owners are in the Wurlaki/Djinang speaking area, but a better consultation of Shepherdson's diaries could place it in the Ganalbingu area (Chirila: Ganalbingu Austlang: N83: Ganhalpuyngu Glottolog: gana1269)

Cultural region: TopEnd_arnhem_east

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition Date: 31. Mrz 1931

Institution/Holder file: The South Australian Museum object identifier: A-16447

Collector: Shepherdson, H.U.

Coordinates: 12°17'4.801200"S,135°01'26.000400"E  (-12.284667, 135.023889)

Media copyright: The South Australian Museum

Notes on coordinates: Approximate coordinates for Glyde River

Notes: SAM has provided images but permission is not yet negotiated beyond personal study and community consultation. Images are: SAM-A16447_Front.tif SAM-A16447_Notation_01.tif SAM-A16447_Notation_02.tif SAM-A16447_Notation_03.tif SAM-A16447_Notation_04.tif SAM-A16447_Reverse.tif The message stick is annotated in pencil with the words: 'tobacco', 'calico' and 'man' x3 on one side, and on the other side 'number of big cypress pines cut down' and 'X = man talking' and 'no of small pine'. More accurate annotations are found in the sketch within the register. The collector is Harold Urquhart Shepherdson and the museum has a number of archives relevant to him: https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collection/archives/provenances/aa320 It would be worth checking records prior to the accession date of 31 March, 1931. Further context might be gleaned by paying attention to all the other objects accessioned from Shepherdson in the same lot from Elcho Island, Crocodile Island and Castlereagh Bay from 'Kopapingu' and 'Katji' peoples. It would also be worth consulting this book: Shepherdson, Ella. 1981. Half a century in Arnhem Land. One Tree Hill, S.A.: Ella and Harold Shepherdson. It includes a photograph of Shepherdson on the Glyde river on p50 AR: check against original SAM register, but PK has already done this.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly, Alexandra Roginski

Related Entries: SAM_A_16448, SAM_A_16449, SAM_A_16450