Photo by Trish Barnard
Accession Number: QE25850
Museum: Queensland Museum
Date Acquired: 1992
Collector: Frank Palmer Woolston (1911 – 1998)
Date Collected: 1932-1960s
Where from: Murray Upper/Tully area
Description: Carved wood with natural black, yellow and brown pigments. Traditionally, firesticks were often in the form of a man and the designs associated with the sky and a mystical spirit of fire. The board is called Bagu and the accompanying drill sticks are Jiman by the Jirrbal and Girramay people. The Jiman were placed into the eyes and after adding a small amount of charcoal, twirled rapidly to create friction. A small amount of dry grass was then placed at the base which eventually ignited. The smoking grass was transferred to start the main fire in the camp. One man from the group had responsibility for maintaining fire at the camp – the ‘spirit’ of the fire secures a camp.
Frank Palmer Woolston (1911 – 1998) was an avid collector of artefacts made by Aboriginal people and he had a particularly keen interest in their stone tools made by groups from the wet tropics area of north Queensland. This Firemaker was originally donated to the Material Culture Unit, James Cook University and later transferred to the Queensland Museum in 2003. See essay on Woolston.
See: ‘Frank Woolston’ authored by Trish Barnard
http://www.jcucollections.org/?page_id=808
Contact: Chantal Knowles, Head of Cultures and Histories, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, QLD 4001 AUSTRALIA
Phone: (07) 3842 9038