SAM_A_27443

Title: A message stick from Jeannie River, indicating a man's relations and their birth places

Description: Message stick from the South Australian Museum

Message: Mnemonic record of man's relations and their birth places.

Date Created: 1938

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Mutumui Austlang: Y63.1 - Barrow Point Glottolog: gugu1255

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Jeannie River, Queensland, Australia Tindale's entry in the SAM register gives "Karbunga" as the affiliation. Elsewhere, Tindale has used "Karbungga" for "name, probably hordal, at Jeannie River". In Tindale's list, Karbungga is a synonym, or subordinate group, within Mutumui.

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Acquisition Date: 12. Okt 1938

Institution/Holder file: The South Australian Museum object identifier: A-27443

Collector: Collected by: Tindale, Norman B

Coordinates: 14°27'57.700800"S,144°26'55.600800"E  (-14.466028, 144.448778)

Media copyright: The South Australian Museum

Notes on coordinates: Chirila centroid coordinates for Mutumui

Notes: There is no image available for this object at SAM. Original register: "Date: 1938, October 12. Registration no. 27443. Description: "Message stick; mnemonic record of a mans relations + their birth places" On 5 September 2022 KM at Cape York Land Council got in touch with PK and said that the most likely person who gave this object to Tindale is Dudley Bulmer. He suggested going to the journals of Tindale's Harvard Expedition with Birdsell and their two wives and looking up the appropriate date. If it's Dudley Bulmer there are plenty of descendants to contact at Yarrabah. He also said to contact Mike Wood at JCU who has had a lot to do with the Bulmer family at Yarrabah and has published a paper on it. Further: read Sutton's article on Tindale's errors with names and groupings. PK: The paper in question is Wood, Michael. 2016. "Dudley Bulmer's artefacts as autobiography." Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Culture 10:77-92. and it has plenty of detail about this object AR: Checked against original SAM register. No new information.

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly, Alexandra Roginski