Description (CMS Description)
Weapon with two forked ends. Carved wooden weapon, apparently carved from a single piece of wood. Each end has two long forks. The entire object is covered in red pigment over which are painted designs, mainly cross hatching and parallel lines in red and yellow ?ochre pigment. Much of the painting is faded. Only the middle of the handle is plain red. There is a long crack on one side down the centre of the object.
Event Date
Author: maa

Context (CMS Context)
(Bio) (Collector) Fredrick John Afford Bateman was a doctor in Alice Springs periodically between 1955 -1959, where he worked both in the hospital there and as a flying medic.Richard Bateman, the collector’s son, in correspondence with CUMAA adds: ‘It was a practice that all weapons, shields, knives were left outside the ward [at the Alice Spring Hospital] and were often unclaimed after the patients left the hospital.’This object is one of a collection of two throwing sticks made during this period. Both have been accessioned into the CUMAA collections.
Event Date
Author: maa