The boomerangs of the people of Rockingham Bay and the districts adjacent are ornamented with incised lines, differing in this respect from those in use in the southern and western parts of the continent. Those from the north-east coast in my collection are not "come-back" or "play" boomerangs; they are such as are used in warfare, and it is doubtful whether "come-back" boomerangs are in general use on the north-east coast.
The boomerangs which I have received from Mr. Bridgman are thus ornamented (Fig. 112):—
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| FIG. 112. |
The name of the boomerang at Mackay is Wongala. Others from the districts north of Mackay, the native names of which I have not been able to obtain, have waved lines cut on them, and perhaps exhibit figures indicating the country occupied by the owners.
These boomerangs vary in weight from eight and three-quarter ounces to nine ounces.
They are not very neatly made; but as weapons of war, or as instruments for killing game, they are no doubt effective, and possessed of properties that are understood and highly prized by the natives of North-East Australia.
The most of the weapons now found in this area have been made since the introduction of European tools, and, for the purposes of the ethnographer, are valueless.
The specimens of the art of the old natives of the north-east coast that are figured in this work could not have been described but for the singular activity of my friends in Queensland.
