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Message sticks are becoming increasingly visible. In recent years they have been exchanged by Australian Rules football captains prior to a match, gifted to senior politicians as a vouchsafe for a political promise, and displayed with reverence in church services.
The revival of public message stick presentations ollows in the footsteps of other recent cultural shifts in Australia, including the official acceptance of the Aboriginal flag as a national symbol, and the widespread adoption of Welcome to Country and Acknowledgment of Country ceremonies.
Because of this, there is a greater motivation to explore traditional practices of message-stick making so that communities can choose to take inspiration from Ancestors in the crafting process, as well as in the ceremonial aspects of the interaction.
Today, ancestral knowledge about message sticks continues to be transmitted through oral, written and digital sources. Even so, there is still knowledge that is yet to be brought to light in processes that involve patient searching in historical records, and deep listening to Knowledge Holders with a sensitivity to timing and appropriateness. Sometimes elements of this knowledge are restored in unexpected ways, including through practical scientific experimentation, or the discovery of documents in overseas archives.
Message stick styles are highly diverse across Aboriginal Australia and this diversity is even found within communities as well as between them. But there are certain basic principles that are universal. Here we set out everything we have learned so far, in hopes that it will be helpful within your own community. Don’t be afraid to try this out!
Of course, if you don’t yourself identify as Aboriginal we encourage you to make message sticks under the supervision of Aboriginal friends, colleagues or Knowledge Holders. In many parts of Australia, both men and women made message sticks without gender restriction up until the 1930s. Note however that in some Indigenous communities, message stick making has recently come to be reconstructed of as male-only activity. Please respect that Aboriginal culture is a living and changing thing and varies from place to place.
Step 1: Motivation for communication
The need for message stick communication is brought on by a need or an event: time for ceremony, request for resources, coordinating hunting, and so on. Most messages have been about coordinating the movements of people and resources, but sometimes they also convey news.
Think about what your motivation for communication is and who your recipient is going to be, because this influence your decisions later in the process. It could be as simple as: “we wanted to learn to how to make a message stick and here is what we made”.
Step 2: Building the toolkit
Traditionally, message sticks would only have been made with flaked stone tools and perhaps finished with a combination of stone, sharp shell, quartz, or marsupial teeth. The finished product could also have been enhanced with pigments, resin, twine or feathers.
After invasion, Aboriginal communities began to exploit iron and steel tools for making message sticks. Heated wire was exploited for pokerwork, and it may be the case that quill pens were modified as gouging implements by removing the nib and using the empty metal hole as a u-shaped cutter (in some cases fluting on boomerangs was produced in this way). Today, small steel axe heads (hatchets), rasps and pocket knives remain the most popular tools for message stick production. Similarly, the repertoire of finishing pigments has now expanded from natural ochres to synthetic dyes and paints, each with their own special properties.
Step 3: Harvesting materials
All kinds of timber are known to be used for message sticks. For certain kinds of messages, sent between members of the same social category, it might be important to select a timber that belongs to the correct totem. In most cases however, timber is selected on the basis of its workability or aesthetic properties. In Western Arnhem Land, for example, a message stick maker might harvest a core from a paperbark trunk. This is a light softwood that is easily harvested and easily worked. Muruwari messengers made use of mulga, a much harder wood but with a contrasting heartwood. Note that in all cases the wood must be green. Dry wood that has fallen on the ground is unsuitable because it will be difficult to work, but it is used when there are no other options. Eucalyptus is also generally unsuitable, at least for beginners. Some timbers may also be considered restricted.
Timbers known to be used for making message sticks are Acacia (various), bamboo, bean-tree wood, corkwood, cuttibundi (Peruvian bark, quinine), ironbark, Leichhardt pine, milk wood, mungal, pine (introduced), sandalwood, wattle, and white gum. When recreating message sticks it might be appropriate to use an invasive species like privet or willow, so as not to damage recovering plant life on Country.
Many message sticks are symmetrical, so if harvesting a long slender piece of wood you should think about whether it will make a perfect cylinder shape, or whether it can be split in half to create a flat or convex shape. In so doing it is worth checking for knots in the wood. These will be difficult to remove so it’s best to start with the cleanest slate possible. Some message sticks are interestingly unsymmetrical, for example, they might have a natural boomerang shape. Work with the natural shape that you have access to.
To use the most traditional methods of harvesting, the wood can be extracted with stone tools.
Step 4: Creating a blank
Depending on the existing shape of the material, you will want to make a blank that does not deviate too much from the natural form. A blank is simply the foundational shape that you will later elaborate. Some traditional shapes for blanks include: cylinder shapes, flat rectangle shapes, convex rectangle shapes, and shield shapes. In all cases the shorter ends tend to be tapered but not always. Below are outlines of stereotypical message stick shapes.
Step 5: Engraving (inscription)
To be completed.
Step 6: Decoration (decoration)
To be completed.
Step 7: Finishing
To be completed.
Step 8: Handover to messenger
To be completed.