Aboriginal Hunting Boomerang from New South Wales

Item K15    

This Item was Sold on 6 March 2016 for $155


Similar artifacts for sale are often found on the Aboriginal Hunting Boomerangs web page.

Historical Pricing information for this item and similar artifacts can be found at: Historical Artifact Prices.


This hunting boomerang, or throwstick was made out of a dense hardwood (possibly Mulga?). It was purchased from the Barclay Gallery in 1987. It originally came from a British collection that was sold at a major auction house in London. The collection tag said it was 19th Century and from New South Wales. The tips have angular cuts similar to hunting boomerangs from Southern Queensland. The surfaces are smoothed and probably finished by scraping of the surfaces with stone tools after moisture was intentionally applied to the surfaces. The wood is very dark and the bend and tips have streaks of light colored wood, so the wood is probably Mulga. Most of the surfaces appears to be stone tool worked, but there are signs of metal tool use in a couple of places, so it is of hybrid construction. There is a natural wood void on the underside at one end that runs for a length of about 11 cm. This hunting boomerang was manufactured with this natural defect. It was not damaged from use. The end opposite the void has a twist which was probably added for flight tuning using heat after the hunting boomerang was finished. No fine art on this one. This is a functional tool used by Aborigines who did not use modern weaponry.

Length = 66 cm ; Weight = 331 gm


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