Rare boomerang collection from Cooper Creek (Kinipapa) near Innamincka in South Australias far north-east. Credit: Photograph thanks to the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Land Owners Aboriginal Corporation
Unusual boomerang collection from Cooper Creek (Kinipapa) evaluated.
New research study has analyzed an unusual collection of non-returning boomerangs from Kinipapa (Cooper Creek), near Innamincka in South Australias far north-east.
The 4 boomerangs and one wooden fragment were found in the creek bed throughout drought conditions in 2017 and 2018 by Jason Litherland from National Parks and Wildlife South Australia and Katheryn Litherland, a conventional owner.
The project to examine the artifacts was a collaborative endeavor started by the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Landowners (Aboriginal Corporation).
The 4 boomerangs and one wood fragment were discovered in the creek bed throughout dry spell conditions in 2017 and 2018 by Jason Litherland from National Parks and Wildlife South Australia and Katheryn Litherland, a traditional owner. Credit: Photograph thanks to the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Land Owners Aboriginal Corporation
They partnered with Australian Heritage Services, Flinders University, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation to carefully document the objects and to perform radiocarbon dating to determine their ages.
The results of radiocarbon dating revealed that the boomerangs range in age from circa 1650– 1830 ADVERTISEMENT; a time that covers the two centuries leading up to European attacks into the area by explorers such as Sturt, Burke, and Wills.
Kinipapa (Cooper Creek), near Innamincka in South Australias far north-east. Credit: Photograph thanks to the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Landowners Aboriginal Corporation
” The assemblage exposes a range of form and function agent of the varied cultural activities and lives of the Aboriginal individuals who lived near significant waterholes in the Cooper Creek area during this period,” said Professor Amy Roberts of Flinders University.
Documenting the boomerangs to carry out radiocarbon dating to determine their ages. Credit: Photograph courtesy of the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Land Owners Aboriginal Corporation
The authors concluded that in addition to their most likely usage as projectiles, the boomerangs were probably utilized for battling, hunting, digging, fire management, and perhaps in events.
” This variety of activities goes well beyond the stereotype of the returning boomerang understood to many Australians,” said co-author Dr. Daryl Wesley from Flinders University.
” For Yandruwandha and Yawarrawarrka individuals, the finds offer another example of how their Country continues to inform the stories of their ancestors, as well as affording a tangible connection to the knowledge passed down from their families,” said Joshua Haynes, a Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka conventional owner and co-author.
” We will continue to secure and preserve our artifacts on Country, thats what our forefathers would want us to do. When you see them old people in whirly winds you understand they are here watching and safeguarding our Country,” stated Katheryn Litherland, a Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka standard owner and co-author.
Predictions for environment change in the region threaten to modify the conditions that enabled the conservation of these artifacts, which may impact the prospective survival of other wooden objects that remain in the environment.
Reference: “Morphological Analysis and Radiocarbon Dating of Non-Returning Boomerangs from Cooper Creek/Kinipapa (North-East South Australia)” by Amy Roberts, Sean Freeman, Daryl Wesley, Vladimir Levchenko, Linda Barry, Luc Bordes, Katheryn Litherland, Jason Litherland, Joshua Haynes, Aaron Paterson and Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Land Owners (Aboriginal Corporation) RNTBC, 3 November 2021, Australian Archaeology.DOI: 10.1080/ 03122417.2021.1994685.