Aboriginal Australian Weapons
If the general reader with some knowledge of Australia were asked to say what the most important weapon of the natives is, he would probably name the boomerang; but the…
Location: Australia
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Natives of Australia by Northcote W. Thomas.
The friendly reception by visitors naturally leads up to the question of war and weapons. If the general reader with some knowledge of Australia were asked to say what the most important weapon of the natives is, he would probably name the boomerang; but the return boomerang is not a weapon, and the non-return form, though in skilful hands it can be made to describe one or more circles, is not what is commonly meant by the term boomerang.
None the less there is a certain amount of truth in the prominence thus given in most minds to the boomerang as representative of Australian culture; for though implements of similar shape were or are in use in ancient Egypt, America, and South India, it is open to question whether they were really of the return kind. If they were not, then Australia is the only area in which the boomerang proper exists.
The essential points of the boomerang are that it is a thin, curved piece of wood, the arms of which are slightly rotated about an axis passing through the centre. It is from two to three feet long, though non-return forms are much longer; and from Central Australia come huge specimens, six feet long. Holding a return boomerang concave side towards one, it is remarked that the upper surface is curved, the lower flat, or nearly so; both arms are rotated counter-clockwise, so that the inner edge of the left-hand and the outer edge of the right-hand arm are raised, and the opposite edges depressed below the plane through the middle of the arm.
The non-return boomerang is sometimes not skewed in this manner, and when it has a skew, it is in the opposite direction to that of the return boomerang.
The boomerang is thrown by taking it in the hand so that the curved side is to the left (PI. XV.); holding it by the end, the thrower launches it with a quick swing, imparting as much rotation to it as possible. In skilful hands this will be ten or fifteen turns a second, so that the ends are not plainly visible, and it looks like a Catherine-wheel. After travelling fifty or more yards revolving in an upright direction, it turns over on the flat side, curves away to the left, and begins to rise in the air. The subsequent path varies with the thrower and the kind of boomerang; but an Australian will often make it describe three or four circles, rising 150 feet in the air, before it finally drops. When a good thrower is trying to make it come back, he will on a calm day drop it within a six-foot circle.
The circles are alternately from right to left and left to right, and it is very remarkable to see the way in which the boomerang will descend near the surface of the ground, and seem to have lost its impetus, and then taking a new lease of life, rise in the air again, and possibly endanger the heads of incautious spectators. Some kinds of boomerangs will not return unless they are made to strike the ground. Captain Bradshaw has described to me a throw in which it hits the ground thirty yards in front of the thrower, then thirty yards to the left, finally returning to his feet. Probably the boomerang will not return if it hits a bird or other object, though they do so sometimes.
One curious form of boomerang, the swan neck type, has a hook on the end on the convex side; the object of this is that when it is thrown at an enemy, and he endeavours to ward it off, the hook engaging the parrying stick, brings the boomerang round and makes his defence of no avail.
The ordinary war boomerang is thrown under the shield in a stooping position. It is sometimes made to strike the ground some twenty yards ahead of the thrower, and then flies some eighty yards further at the height of four feet.
The distance to which the return form can be thrown is a matter of much dispute. Howitt describes a throw of one hundred yards (estimated), but there can be no doubt that this has been exceeded. I have been informed by a resident at Coranderrk, that he has measured throws of one hundred and twenty yards, and seen throws of over one hundred and fifty yards.
The war boomerang can probably be thrown two hundred and fifty yards or more. It is an effective weapon and will cut clean through the soft parts.
The return form is in most tribes only a plaything; it is, however, used for throwing at birds. In West Australia the kyli, or fish boomerang, is in use, but no description of its flight has been published, so far as I know. First cousins to the boomerang, if we may judge by the transitional forms, are on one side the so-called swords in use in Queensland and North Australia, and, on the other, the missile clubs and hand clubs, of which there are numerous varieties all over Australia.
Some missile sticks are straight, others curved; some are round, others flattened; some, often called waddies or nulla-nullas, have heads, others are the same at each end.
The weapon called kukluk by the Kurnai is of the shape of a boomerang, but used like a sword-club, which indeed it resembles in having a well-marked handle. Another club, whose form approaches that of the boomerang, is the leonile or langeel, found in Victoria and Queensland; like one of the heavy clubs with conoid heads, it is only aimed at the head, any other kind of blow being deemed unfair. Besides these we find clubs with round heads, clubs with triangular heads, clubs with oval heads, clubs with serrated heads, and clubs with Y-shaped heads (PI. XXVIII.).
The women are usually restricted to the use of the digging-stick, four to five feet long ; if one of the adversaries drops her weapon, the other will sling it away with her toes. Women also use a short club, two feet long, and very occasionally a missile weapon. The long stick is used like a quarter-staff in some cases, in others it is held by the end.
If the Australian has many clubs he has likewise no deficiency of spears. Among the central and northern tribes alone eleven different types can be counted; these are traded from tribe to tribe, and often wander far from their place of manufacture. Among these spears are the stone-headed, nine feet long, sometimes with composite shaft, which weighs
About 1 lb.; where the shaft is partly of reed, the weight may be three ounces less, even when the length is greater; the wooden spear with one strong barb; the spear with many barbs on one side only or on both, all turned in the same direction; the spear with barbs on one side, but half in one-half in the reverse direction; in some forms the barbs stand out at right angles and are very numerous and small; the spear with long, curved, double barbs; the spear with barbs in two planes; the spear with three or four prongs, often a fishing spear; the spear with wooden head, shaped to imitate stone; the fishing spear with one sharp prong, and so on. Elsewhere we find spears with flints set in with gum to serve as barbs, lobster-claw spears for eels, and many forms which it would be tedious to enumerate in a non-technical work.
Many of the spears are thrown by hand; but for others an implement (PI. XVII.) called wommera, amera, or mero in various parts is employed; this performs the function of an additional joint to the arm of the thrower, who is thus able to exert much more force. Spear-throwers of other types are found in other parts of the world; the distinguishing characteristic of the Australian type is that there is a peg at the proximal end, which holds the spear, whereas the Eskimo form, to take another example, has a groove in which the spear lies; this peg fits into a small hole in the spear.
There are many different forms in use in Australia; in Victoria and New South Wales the commonest is a flat, broad piece of wood with one end narrowed down to a handle; these offer great resistance to the air, and we find another form especially among the central tribes; this is the lath, a long, narrow piece of wood, sometimes four feet long; others again are circular, and of course thin pieces of wood, sometimes with a tassel on the end to give good handhold. More effective still is the Queensland and North Australian form, characterised by the small resistance it offers to the air; in shape it is not unlike the lath or Billetta wommera, but it is rotated through an angle of 90°, so that the peg is fixed not in the broad but in the narrow side.
According to some authorities the spear was thrown one hundred and fifty yards in Victoria, but the range naturally varied with the kind of spear; perhaps sixty yards was a more normal distance. Spencer says twenty-five yards is usual in Central Australia. Opinions differ much as to the accuracy possible with the spear; a German writer says that at King George’s Sound the natives could hit a sixpence with the spear at thirty yards; others represent them as unable to hit a haystack at fifty yards. The longest spears seem to have been used in New South Wales, where they reached sixteen feet in length. The fish spears were often not more than four feet long.
Of minor importance as weapons were or are the knife, chiefly used in duels, when the combatants are locked body to body; the dagger of emu bone in South Australia; the strangling cord (PI. XXXII.), which was rather a means of assassination; and, in the extreme north of Queensland, the bow and arrow.
Two kinds of shields are in use in Australia—spear-shields and club-shields (Pis. XXIV., XXV., XXVII.)—the latter being narrow, sometimes no more than two inches broad, but more often five or six; the former ten inches broad in some forms, and only a quarter of an inch thick, as against four inches in the club-shield. The spear-shields of West and Central Australia and the Boulia district are two or three feet long, oval, and have a shorter diameter of nine or ten inches; those of North Queensland have a central boss and a peculiar, irregular form; and those of Victoria a conoid shape, with points at each end.
Thomas, Northcote W. Natives of Australia. Archibald Constable and Company, 1906.
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