Must of had value?

[Tim Simmons]

A new thread on the Australian club I recenly aquired. The reason is the unusual old repair/alteration either from use or in the original fashioning. Clealy and old piece, the patination is complete with no varriation as can be seen. Well used and in spite of the repair/alteration, good in the hand. It could indicate that the type of wood had a value that damage through use or discovering a problem when manufaturing ment it was worth finnishing. Even in contact days carving may well have been with stone, a time consuming task. Perhaps there was a reason which we will never know. Certainly the oldest Australian wooden piece I have ever had. I espcially like the grip. It could earned becoming a ritual or ceremonial piece. At first I was a little disappionted now I am very pleased with it. There must have been a good reason for its manufacture. I know in our modern western culture It would just be a broken damaged piece of wood and deemed no good. I don't think we have any experts on Australian aboriginal culture on the forum. Shown with another from my collection.

[ausjulius]

These type of clubs from Queensland were also thrown and a solid impact could split them as they are not typically make of a burl but if a straight bit of timber. I've seen clips that were cut down in the handle probably because of a split and others with chips out of the heads. With boomerangs it's very common to see repairs in them. I think the effort to make it with stoneage tools meant the owner didn't just throw it away

[Ian]

ausjulius is correct about these being throwing sticks primarily. They could conceivably have been used as clubs, but (as I have noted here before) indigenous Austrailan clubs are actually uncommon and were found mainly in coastal regions. Whether such cubs were actual weapons or symbols of authority/prestige has been debated. Spears were the preferred weapon across the country. This differs from Maori tradition, of course, where clubs were common. There is sometimes a tendency to translate Maori customs to indigenous Australian groups. Two very different cultures from different periods of human development.

Routine practice in killing kangaroos, for example, was to start a grass fire that would cause the animals to flee while hunters lay in wait with any old stick to hit them as they ran past. Manufactured clubs for this purpose were not used as far as I know. Hunting at a distance was done with spears and a woomera (a notched stick used to aid throwing the spear). Throwing sticks (boomerang)--usually straight of slightly curved--were also used for hunting at a distance. The more deeply curved boomerangs that return to the thrower are essentially toys. Such light fast objects were occasionally thrown into a flock of birds to bring some of them to ground.

[Tim Simmons]

Thanks for your replies. The club does have a hole for a lanyard so presumably also used to whack an opponent.