| Coordinates WGS84 | 32°S, 115°31'E -32.01, 115.52 |
WAM_A25070
Title: A message stick from Rottnest-Wadjemup held in the Western Australian Museum
Description: WAM register: [Description] "MESSAGE STICK – 'boomerang'-shaped, cylindrical stick with curved arms; incised with frilly scratched lines forming a diamond pattern along body; old label [172] on one end and 'WA' in white mark on other end" 265 x 20mm. [Locality] Rottnest Island, WA; [Collector] Purchased and presented by Larry Foley, 58 Blackwell Reach Rd, Bicton WA 6000 [Date collected] 21 April, 1991 [Remarks] Purchased by collector at a Sotheby's Tribes Art auction for $935.00. The object was auctioned with the following story as documentation: "This message stick was sent from Rottnest Island in 1899 by a native named 'Cockroach'. It was given to a member of his tribe named "Mullet" who had served his term and was being sent back to his country.
The stick has to be handed to the tribal chief Googeerappa whose camp was at Black Hawke Bay, in the Flying Foam Pass, 20 miles from Cossack.
The stick was to warn Googerappa the 'Cockroach' was escaping, but was taken from Mullett by the Water Police. However, Cockroach escaped and returned to Foam Pass camp 9 months later. He was captured near Geraldton and returned to Fremantle. He was later sent back to Cossack where he died".
The collector subsequently presented the stick to the museum under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts School, 30.4.1994." [References] See File 0667
Date Created: 1899
Notes on date created: 1995-05-30 is date of accession
Item type: message stick in a collection
State/Territory: WA
Notes on linguistic areas: The message stick is associated with Rottnest Island, south-west
Dimension 1: 265mm Dimension 2: 20mm
Materials: wood
Source types: museum collection
Date collected: Unknown
Institution/Holder file: Western Australian Museum object identifier: A25070
Collector: Unknown
Coordinates: 32°18.000000"S,115°30'54.000000"E (-32.005, 115.515)
Media copyright: Western Australian Museum
Notes on coordinates: Coordinates for Rottnest Island
Notes: Email from RC on 16.12.2024: "I’ve now had time to produce a list of message sticks (just basic data) from the database that are/were in the Museum’s collection. Note that there are 73 from this list that have been repatriated to community. I’m about to head off on extended leave tomorrow so won’t have time to produce anything more detailed. However, the information by and large reflects the information that is captured in the registers. And as background message sticks are typically categorised a short cylindrical stick that has an incised decoration applied to it (think clapping stick with various regional designs applied, though the thickness can vary from 15-20mm)." .
Media Files:
Data Entry: Nitzan Rotman