WAM_A24274

Title: Message stick that Daisy Bates used as a passport and represented as a "magic" object

Description: WAM register: "Carved, smooth stick with a figure & other infilled shapes incised over surface. Murchison? Daisy M. Bates. Daisy Bates subsequently gave the artefact to Mrs Ernestine Hill. It was donated by her husband Mr. Robert Hill [PK: This is her son], c/- Room 2. Crown Private Hotel, Guildford, on 3.10.1972. Daisy Bates called the object "BAMBURU". It was registered during a documentation update of restricted material. ACC The Passing of the Aborigines by Daisy Bates. 1930 [PK: 1938]. John Murray, London. p111." The Australasian: "EXAMPLES OF ABORIGINAL CARVING. Photographed from drawings in the collection of Daisy M. Bates. Bamburu – Mrs Bates's "passport" in the early years of her investigations among the circumcised groups of the Central (W.A.) aborigines." Anonymous. 1929. "Examples of Aboriginal carving." Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), 15 June 1929, 75, METROPOLITAN EDITION. Accessed 11 November 2025. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141393872.

Item type: message stick in a collection

State/Territory: WA

Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with Peak Hill, Murchison/Gascoyne

Dimension 1: 182mm Dimension 2: 17mm

Materials: wood

Source types: museum collection

Institution/Holder file: Western Australian Museum object identifier: A24274

Coordinates: 25°37'59.998800"S,118°43'0.001200"E  (-25.633333, 118.716667)

Media copyright: Western Australian Museum

Notes on coordinates: Coordinates for Peak Hill

Notes: 11.11.2025: This is likely at WAM, see email from RC

Media Files:

Data Entry: Piers Kelly