Aus Aboriginal club+shield

Tim Simmons · 21st June 2016, 07:12 AM

Yes all good points. However I do not think there is a rule book on club forms. As for the paints, the colours are not beyond those that can be made from ochres. Also we do not know what was used as a binder, which in this case may be lasting well since the pieces have not been in Aboriginal use. There are areas showing distress of the paint. Google is a marvelous tool for research but it is rather selective. What ever the books say about weapon forms there are always forms that differ from those standard and commonly known and collected. This link is lightly informative if you explore the highlighted.

http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/methods/methods.php

Shamsy · 21st June 2016, 08:17 AM

All are excellent points. Even in the most known of topics there are outliers and exceptions. Aboriginal weaponry is a topic that is sadly lacking and receives little interest even in Australia. I'm glad you are interested and there's plenty of room for research and writing on the subject. I find it an interesting topic, especially as it is still very much in the pioneer stage.

Tim Simmons · 21st June 2016, 10:37 AM

There are big heavy ceremonial digging sticks used to dig water holes. The digging of the water hole is in some ways like the black rod knocking to open the British parliament. Also the water is needed to drink and so on. So it could be one of these.

Tim Simmons · 21st June 2016, 10:47 AM

Lifted from the National Museum Australia.

The digging stick

Another powerful item that the Djang'kawu brought to Yalangbara was the ceremonial digging stick mawalan (also wapitja and djota), used to create freshwater holes on their travels.

The term mawalan can refer to either a digging stick or a paddle, because the oars were used by the Djang'kawu during their sea voyage to Yalangbara to create freshwater pools at various places in the sea.

Once on land, the Sisters continued to create freshwater wells by plunging their mawalan into the previously barren earth. They did this in each of the Dhuwa clan countries they visited, leaving their mawalan as a symbol of their creativity and authority. The water that it created is likened to 'the fluid or source of Yolngu knowledge'.

To emphasise its embodiment of ritual knowledge and land ownership, the senior Rirratjingu men presented a ceremonial mawalan to the Australian government during the Gove land rights case. They believed that the digging stick piercing the ground to create Djang'kawu law and knowledge was like the parliamentary rod opening the doors of parliament. Both staffs in this context symbolise the gaining of entry to culturally different, though equivalent, systems of power.

The exhibited digging stick normally displayed in Parliament House next to the famous Yirrkala Bark Petition has been generously loaned for the Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu exhibition.

Although this stick is from Arnhem Land not the central desert I would not be surprised to find similar culture elsewhere.

VANDOO · 21st June 2016, 01:43 PM

MANY NOMADIC TRIBES CARRIED FEW BELONGINGS SO WHERE POSSIBLE ONE ITEM COULD SERVE MANY PURPOSES. SO THIS COULD BE USED AS A DIGGING STICK, CLUB, CEREMONIAL OBJECT OR ANY OTHER NEEDED PURPOSE.
THE FIJI BOWAI MAKES A GOOD WAR CLUB AND IF THIS ABORIGINAL CLUB IS HEAVIER AND ALMOST AS LONG IT WOULD CERTAINLY SERVE AS A GOOD HEAD KNOCKER. IF A DIGGING STICK IT SHOWS NO WEAR FROM USE AT EITHER END SO PERHAPS WAS ONLY A CEREMONIAL OBJECT. TRUTH IS WE CAN NEVER BE SURE BUT I WOULD NOT WANT TO BE CONKED WITH IT.

Tim Simmons · 22nd June 2016, 08:06 PM

I have been searching the National Museum of Australia . Entering club into the data base and found this example at 1070mm so a little shorter than mine. This example shows the same damage as mine. The only other information is ; JW Lindo collection.
.

Tim Simmons · 22nd June 2016, 08:55 PM

More information that kind of fits my hypothesis that my items are at the very least from the first half of the 20th century perhaps even before the 1930s. Here is an extract from; Hunting the collectors, Pacific collections in the Australian museum of art.

Sir Charles Murr a commonwealth government minister, presented two model canoes he had been given by " native chiefs of Bouganville" as noted AIA catalogue card, and finally a large collection of both Aboriginal and Pacific material was received in 1935 or 1936 donated by South Australian pastoralist JW Lindo.

21st June 2016, 07:12 AM	#1
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,844	Yes all good points. However I do not think there is a rule book on club forms. As for the paints, the colours are not beyond those that can be made from ochres. Also we do not know what was used as a binder, which in this case may be lasting well since the pieces have not been in Aboriginal use. There are areas showing distress of the paint. Google is a marvelous tool for research but it is rather selective. What ever the books say about weapon forms there are always forms that differ from those standard and commonly known and collected. This link is lightly informative if you explore the highlighted. http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/methods/methods.php Last edited by Tim Simmons; 21st June 2016 at 07:39 AM.

21st June 2016, 10:47 AM	#4
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,844	Lifted from the National Museum Australia. The digging stick Another powerful item that the Djang'kawu brought to Yalangbara was the ceremonial digging stick mawalan (also wapitja and djota), used to create freshwater holes on their travels. The term mawalan can refer to either a digging stick or a paddle, because the oars were used by the Djang'kawu during their sea voyage to Yalangbara to create freshwater pools at various places in the sea. Once on land, the Sisters continued to create freshwater wells by plunging their mawalan into the previously barren earth. They did this in each of the Dhuwa clan countries they visited, leaving their mawalan as a symbol of their creativity and authority. The water that it created is likened to 'the fluid or source of Yolngu knowledge'. To emphasise its embodiment of ritual knowledge and land ownership, the senior Rirratjingu men presented a ceremonial mawalan to the Australian government during the Gove land rights case. They believed that the digging stick piercing the ground to create Djang'kawu law and knowledge was like the parliamentary rod opening the doors of parliament. Both staffs in this context symbolise the gaining of entry to culturally different, though equivalent, systems of power. The exhibited digging stick normally displayed in Parliament House next to the famous Yirrkala Bark Petition has been generously loaned for the Yalangbara: Art of the Djang'kawu exhibition. Although this stick is from Arnhem Land not the central desert I would not be surprised to find similar culture elsewhere. Attached Images

22nd June 2016, 08:06 PM	#6
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,844	I have been searching the National Museum of Australia . Entering club into the data base and found this example at 1070mm so a little shorter than mine. This example shows the same damage as mine. The only other information is ; JW Lindo collection. . Attached Images

22nd June 2016, 08:55 PM	#7
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,844	More information that kind of fits my hypothesis that my items are at the very least from the first half of the 20th century perhaps even before the 1930s. Here is an extract from; Hunting the collectors, Pacific collections in the Australian museum of art. Sir Charles Murr a commonwealth government minister, presented two model canoes he had been given by " native chiefs of Bouganville" as noted AIA catalogue card, and finally a large collection of both Aboriginal and Pacific material was received in 1935 or 1936 donated by South Australian pastoralist JW Lindo. Last edited by Tim Simmons; 23rd June 2016 at 07:51 PM.

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21st June 2016, 08:17 AM	#2
Shamsy Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Australia Posts: 12	All are excellent points. Even in the most known of topics there are outliers and exceptions. Aboriginal weaponry is a topic that is sadly lacking and receives little interest even in Australia. I'm glad you are interested and there's plenty of room for research and writing on the subject. I find it an interesting topic, especially as it is still very much in the pioneer stage.

21st June 2016, 10:37 AM	#3
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,844	There are big heavy ceremonial digging sticks used to dig water holes. The digging of the water hole is in some ways like the black rod knocking to open the British parliament. Also the water is needed to drink and so on. So it could be one of these.

21st June 2016, 01:43 PM	#5
VANDOO (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: OKLAHOMA, USA Posts: 3,138	MANY NOMADIC TRIBES CARRIED FEW BELONGINGS SO WHERE POSSIBLE ONE ITEM COULD SERVE MANY PURPOSES. SO THIS COULD BE USED AS A DIGGING STICK, CLUB, CEREMONIAL OBJECT OR ANY OTHER NEEDED PURPOSE. THE FIJI BOWAI MAKES A GOOD WAR CLUB AND IF THIS ABORIGINAL CLUB IS HEAVIER AND ALMOST AS LONG IT WOULD CERTAINLY SERVE AS A GOOD HEAD KNOCKER. IF A DIGGING STICK IT SHOWS NO WEAR FROM USE AT EITHER END SO PERHAPS WAS ONLY A CEREMONIAL OBJECT. TRUTH IS WE CAN NEVER BE SURE BUT I WOULD NOT WANT TO BE CONKED WITH IT.