Photograph by Australian Museum
Accession Number: E013408
Museum: Australian Museum, Sydney
Date Acquired: 1905
Collector: Walter Edmund Roth (1861-1933)
Date Collected: 1898
Where from: Bloomfield River
Description: L126 x W320 x D280mm. Cylindrical wooden message stick, with incised lines and carved notches, and coated with thin layer of ochre.
Without a written language, message sticks were a valuable tool for communicating between different groups. Some carried fine incisions, others occasionally had painted designs. The message conveyed may be interpreted differently by members of the same cultural group depending on spiritual knowledge. Generally very small for ease of carrying, they were shaped short flat, round or square. The marks may have aided memory, or the carved notches and symbols may have referred to the number of days before or after a particular event; the number of groups involved; or items required for ceremonial purposes. Message sticks were also used as a ‘passport’ to ensure safe passage when travelling through another group’s country.
See: ‘Walter Edmund Roth’ authored by Maureen Fuary
http://www.jcucollections.org/?page_id=71
Contact: Rebecca Fisher, Collections Officer, Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney, NSW 2010 AUSTRALIA Phone: (02) 9320 6089
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