page_title: Message stick
hierarchical_section_title: Message stick
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an image of an Australian Indigenous message stick held in the National Museum of Australia. It is a secular, non-restricted image from the Horne-Bowie collection with the accession number 1985.0002.0300
context_page_description: A message stick is a form of graphic communication traditionally used by Aboriginal Australians, carried by messengers over long distances to contribute to the verbal message. Although styles vary, it is generally is a length of wood with motifs engraved on it conveying aspects of the message. The sticks were used across continental Australia, and used to convey messages between Aboriginal nations, clans and language groups and even within clans. In the 1880s, they became objects of anthropological study, but there has been little research on them published since then.
context_section_description: A message stick is a form of graphic communication traditionally used by Aboriginal Australians, carried by messengers over long distances to contribute to the verbal message. Although styles vary, it is generally is a length of wood with motifs engraved on it conveying aspects of the message. The sticks were used across continental Australia, and used to convey messages between Aboriginal nations, clans and language groups and even within clans. In the 1880s, they became objects of anthropological study, but there has been little research on them published since then.
caption: An Australian Indigenous message stick held in the National Museum of Australia
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "90", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1100", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "459"}