SAM_A_52908

Title: A message stick from South Australia held in the South Australian Museum

Description: Message stick from the South Australian Museum

Date Created: 1960

Notes on date created: terminus ante quem A Lock could be missionary Annie Lock, who was at Ooldea in the mid-1930s, possibly dating this artefact to that period. See: https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-annie-lock-was-a-bolshie-outspoken-australian-missionary-full-of-contradictions-167781

Item type: message stick in a collection

Linguistic area 1: Chirila: Mirniny Austlang: A9 - Mirning

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Ooldea, South Australia, Australia The "Ooldea tribe" is analysed as Mirniny. (Note, however, that Mirniny turns up twice in Chirila. One is over on the western edge of the Nullabor near Caiguna. The other is further east near Eucla. The Eucla Mirniny is the one referred to here.) We have assumed that "Ooldea tribe" is (eastern) Mirniny on the basis of the fact that the Ooldea soak and Ooldea Hill are in this area at 29°39'05.5"S 131°50'59.6"E. Tindale also refers to "Miming man of Ooldea who went to Esperance by train and found friendly southern people there" Harald wrote: "For doculects that that referred to as Mirning or the like the corresponding Glottolog variety can be either Kalarko [kala1379] kba Ngadjunmaya [ngad1258] nju It's debatable whether there should be a separate variety with that name. Mirning is also the name of a subgroup" Claire wrote: "So it looks like Glottolog includes 2 western Mirning languages but not the eastern-most one around Eucla, since the term Ngatjumaya is specifically for Western Mirning? I see in my tree I used "Mirniny", "Ngatjumaya" and "Eucla", and a number of Noongar varieties; I didn't have data for inland varieties." The "Ooldea tribe" is analysed as Mirniny. (Note, however, that Mirniny turns up twice in Chirila. One is over on the western edge of the Nullabor near Caiguna. The other is further east near Eucla. The Eucla Mirniny is the one referred to here.) We have assumed that "Ooldea tribe" is (eastern) Mirniny on the basis of the fact that the Ooldea soak and Ooldea Hill are in this area at 29°39'05.5"S 131°50'59.6"E. Tindale also refers to "Miming man of Ooldea who went to Esperance by train and found friendly southern people there" Harald wrote: "For doculects that that referred to as Mirning or the like the corresponding Glottolog variety can be either Kalarko [kala1379] kba Ngadjunmaya [ngad1258] nju It's debatable whether there should be a separate variety with that name. Mirning is also the name of a subgroup" Claire wrote: "So it looks like Glottolog includes 2 western Mirning languages but not the eastern-most one around Eucla, since the term Ngatjumaya is specifically for Western Mirning? I see in my tree I used "Mirniny", "Ngatjumaya" and "Eucla", and a number of Noongar varieties; I didn't have data for inland varieties."

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Date Collected/registered: 12. Feb 1960

Institution/Holder file: The South Australian Museum object identifier: A-52908

Collector: Donated by: Johansen, J.; estate of A. Lock

Coordinates: 30°27'32.900400"S,131°50'8.210400"E  (-30.459139, 131.835614)

Media copyright: The South Australian Museum

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Ooldea mission station

Notes: AR: Note in "Remarks" in SAM register, "fide (?) label on box". AR: A Lock is possibly Annie Lock. See: Catherine Bishop, 'Too Much Cabbage and Jesus Christ Australia's 'Mission Girl' Annie Lock' (Wakefield Press, 2022).

Media Files:

Data Entry: Olena Tykhostup, Piers Kelly, Alexandra Roginski