Privet. Hmmmm. Interesting finding. I don't see a lowland tropical
Ligustrum species on the list yet, so I'm not buying Torres Strait Islands. Without testing the bark binding (hey, why not disassemble it completely and test the rock head too?
) I think the best guess is that the handle came out of someone's hedge or weed patch.
Great that you're doing this research, Tim. At least, now we know where to go when we have these types of questions next time.
Best,
F