UQAM7778

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

Description: Message stick. Physical Description: Object a medium hardwood and is rectangular with four lateral surfaces. Three of the surfaces have vertical lines etched into the wood and on the fourth is a zig zag pattern. There are chevrons on two of the surfaces. The etchings are coloured a red paint and the object overall has been painted a browny/red colour. Registration number is inscribed in black.

Message: The donor recorded that the markings announced an initiation ceremony. Parallel strokes on two sides refer to the groups involved: people at the mission camp; Denham Island; Forsyth Island; Laroombin division and Dugoorabin. The zig zag design is recorded as boomerangs, symbols of authority to communicate the importance of the event [Belcher source file].

Item type: message stick in a collection

Subtype: traditional

State/Territory: QLD

Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is Mornington Island, Gulf region, Queensland, Australia

Dimension 1: 235mm Dimension 2: 16mm

Materials: wood

Source types: museum collection

Date collected: Unknown

Institution/Holder file: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum object identifier: 7778

Collector: Collected and donated by: Reverend Douglas Belcher

Coordinates: 16°30'56.498400"S,139°24'18.201600"E  (-16.515694, 139.405056)

Media copyright: The University of Queensland Anthropology Museum

Notes on coordinates: Coordinates for Mornington Island, Queensland, per Google maps

URL institution: https://catalogue.anthropologymuseum.uq.edu.au/?record=ecatalogue.7778

Notes: UQ Anthropology Museum website: "The donor recorded that the markings announced an initiation ceremony. Parallel strokes on two sides refer to the groups involved: people at the mission camp; Denham Island; Forsyth Island; Laroombin division and Dugoorabin. The zig zag design is recorded as boomerangs, symbols of authority to communicate the importance of the event [Belcher source file]. Memmott (1980:131) records the involved groups as people at the mission camp, Yangkal people from Denham Island and Forsyth Island, Larumpenta (division of Lardil) and Tjirrkarampenta division. He also noted that this four-sided stick of milled timber is atypical for the area, two-sided bush timber was more commonly used. Source: Memmott, Paul 1980 Occasional Papers in Anthropology Vol 9 p107-142"

Data Entry: Nitzan Rotman