[Ian]

An important article on throwing clubs, throwing sticks and boomerangs was written by Davidson (1936).* He looked at the majority of such items contained in various Australian museums of that period, and tried to classify them according to their typology and place of origin. Unfortunately, Davidson's terminology for "boomerang" is incorrect in that he lumps non-returning, curved, throwing sticks with the returning boomerang. Otherwise, this is an excellent article compiled when there were still some knowledgeable indigenous people for consultation on the types and locations of these objects.

The following figures from Dovidson's account show the range of throwing items he examined and the geographic distributions that he compiled. Much of this information is still considered accurate.

Figure 1. Throwing sticks




Figure 2. Distribution of throwing sticks





Figure 3 & 4. Throwing clubs






* Davidson, D. S. (1936). Australian throwing sticks, throwing clubs, and boomerangs. American Anthropologist, 38(1), 76–102. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1936.38.1.02a00070 (Copy attached)