UQAM624

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

Description: Message stick. Physical Description: The object is in a display case. It has four lateral surfaces and appears to be of a light sandy brown colour with a dull orange paint that covers most of the surface but not all. Essentially it is rectangular (the edges have a slight curve) and the ends meet in a well defined point. There is a small hole at each end and the pattern at the ends consists of horizontal lines carved out of the wood which then leads into a series of vertical lines which cover most of the faces. There are some black marks; unsure of what these marks may be from.

Item type: message stick in a collection

State/Territory: WA

Notes on linguistic areas: This message stick is associate with Broome, Kimberley region, Western Australia

Dimension 1: 420mm Dimension 2: 46mm

Materials: wood

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Donated: 1948

Institution/Holder file: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum object identifier: 624

Collector: Donated by: Reverend W. Foxall

Coordinates: 17°57'51.098400"S,122°13'54.001200"E  (-17.964194, 122.231667)

Media copyright: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum

Notes on coordinates: Absolute coordinates for Broom, Kimberley region, WA, per Google maps

URL institution: https://catalogue.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/?record=ecatalogue.624

Notes: UQ Anthropology Museum website: "From letter from Winterbotham to McCarthy, Jan 1952: this is a wooden object, 16 and three quarter inches long and one and three quarter inches thick at the centre. It is four sided by not quite square. It comes from Western Australia. It has been red ochred and some of the cross grooves have been coloured black. (I should like to know what it has been used for). 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."

Data Entry: Nitzan Rotman