UQAM486

Title: A message stick held in the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum

Description: Message stick. Physical Description: The object is rectangular in shape, the ends of the object are slightly curved. It is a medium hardwood that is light brown in colour. There are two main faces one is free of any incised patters and only has Roper River painted in white and the other has chevrons and vertical lines incised into the wood. The two sides flanking the main faces have vertical lines incised into the wood; one has five and the other ten.

Item type: message stick in a collection

State/Territory: NT

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Roper River, Roper - McArthur region, Northern Territory, Australia, Australia

Dimension 1: 85mm Dimension 2: 18mm

Materials: wood

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Donated: 1948

Institution/Holder file: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum object identifier: 486

Collector: Unrecorded

Coordinates: 14°44'8.800800"S,134°43'43.600800"E  (-14.735778, 134.728778)

Media copyright: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum

Notes on coordinates: An approximate location on the Roper River, near Ngukurr (Roper River Mission), NT, per Google maps

URL institution: https://catalogue.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/?record=ecatalogue.486

Notes: UQ Anthropology Museum website: "The Foundation Donation comprises the items from L. P. Winterbotham's personal collection, which were donated to the University of Queensland in 1948 and form the basis of the Anthropology Museum." 21.3.25 NR - As more items in the UQ Anthropology Museum that have been associated with the Roper River were labeled as donated by the Roper River Mission, it could be the donor of this item as well.

Data Entry: Nitzan Rotman