STORY OF THE BOOMERANG

Evening Star, Issue 20586, 11 September 1930, Page 18

STORY OF THE BOOMERANG

EVOLUTION OF AN AMAZING WEAPON [By Dr Sydney Pern, in the Melbourne ' ‘ Argus.’] Occasionally we read that such-and-such a party has returned from Central Austdaha laden with spears and boomerangs. Access to those parts is besoming easier, and the result will be that the supplies of native weapons will soon be exhausted; that is, the genuine article. The blacks, having leas and less use for these weapons, will gradually cease to make them, unless a trade catering for tourists is fostered. One can well imagine how different they will then be from the “ pukka ” things. Boomerangs seem to fascinate nearly everybody, and there is always an occasion for debate how and why and for what uses the boomeiang is employed. That boomerangs date back to antiquity is well recognised. Being made of ivood they are naturally perishable, so there is little likelihood of prehistoric boomerangs being unearthed. Perhaps the most interesting are those found *n Tutankhamen’s tomb, but more of that presently. Not only was the boomerang used in Africa, but_ also on the east coast of South America and the southern parts of India and Ceylon. _ At first sight it would seem odd that it should be found in such widely separated places, but there is a good reason for it. In the evolution of the different races of mankind, as Griffith Taylor has so ably shown, there has been a more or less common centre, each new evolution gradually pushing the last one farther afield. If you take Europe or the eastern end of the Mediterranean as the common centre, an& look at the globe of the world from the North Pole, you will see three great peninsulas spreading out— America tailing off to Cape Horn, Africa ending in Cape Colony, and the Malay Archipelago stretching to Australia and Tasmania. So, in the natural course of events one finds the most primitive types towards the end of these extremities. On the authority of Griffith Taylor, these men of the boomerang cult are all of the same head 'measurements and belong to the Dravidian race. Supporting another suggestion, that these people came from Europe, is the fact that the types of chipped stones found there, and recognised as belonging to the Azilian-Tardenoisian period, are identical with those we pick up here today. This period is estimated at somewhere about 20,000 years ago. SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. Quite a lot may happen in a space of time like that, and during that period mankind was driven hither and thither, the strong pushing out the weak; or, rather, those with the best weapons exterminating or driving off the others from the best hunting grounds. It is a long way to ivalk from Germany _to Cape Horn, crossing the Behring Straits, yet across those straits migration after migration has taken place. Even the Indians inhabiting the tops of the South American Andes are of Mongolian stock. If the history of any of these early types of Australian aborigines could have been written in their wanderings over the face of the earth what a story it would be! It was in pursuit of such knowledge that the late Sir Baldwin Spencer ventured into inhospitable parts. It is also interesting to note that, while the Australian aborigine was being pushed, he was also driving the negrito ahead of him, as illustrated by the Tasmanian black, who had not even the boomerang. It is unthinkable that the return boomerang was the result of a sudden brain wave from any man. It is far more likely to be the product of a slow evolution. The only weapons man first had were sticks and stones. Short sticks were used for throwing as well as long ones for spears. If a rabbit or wild turkey was to he procured, with which do you think you would prefer to kill it —a short stick which spun round, or a spear? In other words, would yon like a shotgun o.* a rifle? The same thing applies when a flock of ducks arises from the water. The spinning stick wins every time. Here we find the great need created for the spinning stick, and so the gradual evolution of the boomerang. Obviously, then, the stick that carried farthest would be the one of choice. At this stage it would not take very long to find out that one flattened on both sides would travel farther than a round one. The next step would have been the discovery that a flattened stick with a slight fiang cut at each end tended to prevent it from dropping, and kept it afloat in the air longer .increasing its_ range. Here another peculiarity is noticed—-the ones that went the farthest did not go quite straight, but took the arc of a large circle, and made quite a perceptible curve before they dropped. THROWING WEAPONS OF PRIMITIVE MAN. As primitive man often had to fight for his life and procure his food with his throwing weapons, it is obvious that great attention would be given to one who had the best type for dealing death and destruction, and that slight improvements would be immediately noticed. Some would make a larger or shorter curve than others, and these points of difference would gradually lead to the evolution of a boomerang which came back to the thrower. It would not be long before it was found out that a slightly bent stick worked better than a straight one. Not only did the spin tcnd_ to increase the range of the throwing-stick, but the spin itself became a most important element in its destructive power. The initial velocity of the stick gradually diminishes, hut there is very little diminution in the spin at the end of the throw. A boomerang is spinning so fast at the completion of its flight that it is capable of breaking an arm or smashing a skull, oven when dropping to the ground. One must always bear in mind that it was the killing weapon that all attention would be turned to, and that the return boomerang came as a secondary consideration of pastime. Once the return boomerang had been evolved the blacks did turn it to some use in fighting, _as they were able to make one which could be thrown parallel to the ground for about 40yds, and which, if it missed its objective, rose high to the left, then returned to the thrower. The obvious advantage here was that it could be used again. The accuracy of throwing which an aborigine acquires is astounding. Mr Alston, who brought two natives down with him last year, tells mo that he saw a native kill three turkeys at 50yds with four shots. Where he lives the natives go out killing rabbits with boomerangs. For sport I should think that bowling over a bolting rabbit with a boomerang would beat bringing down a rocketing pheasant with a gun. PASSING OF THE BOOMERANG. I suppose that in the last 200,000 years trvere has been no time in which racial aggression and annihilation has been so pronounced as in the last two or three centuries. White men’s diseases have no doubt played a considerable part, but worst of all was the advent of the rifle. Race after race, has been almost decimated* A

few surviving relics of once mighty nations remain here and there. It has been the rifle against the bow and arrow. There could be no doubt of the result. The same extermination that has gone on during the last 200 years went on thousands of years ago, but it was bow and arrow against throwing stick and spear. It was with bow and arrow that the Cromagnons wiped out the Neanderthal men. There could bo no doubt of tho result in either case. Here lies the story of tho passing of the boomerang. The Australian aborigine never acquired the bow and arrow. It is highly probabje that boomerangs were almost universally used before tho advent of bows and arrows. One might reasonably ask. “ Well, how was it that bows and arrows as well as boomerangs were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen?” I think the best answer to that would be that the boomerangs wore used entirely for killing geese and ducks. When one realises how prevalent these birds were in tho Nile Delta, and how inferior a bow and arrow would be, the need for the boomerang immediately becomes apparent. Boomerangs are of all weights and sizes, thick or thin, and are used in much the same way as a schoolboy uses his pocket knife, that is, for anything it can come in handy for, such as beating time at corroborees, poking tho fire, v throwing at quarrelling and thieving dogs, taking rats, lizards, birds, or animals, as well as for fighting. In all tribes there are some who are recognised as cunning in the art of boomerang-making, but even these like to exchange boomerangs with a man in another tribe who also has a great reputation, and who may live many weeks’ journey away. There are many very inferior boomerangs made by the natives either from lack of skill or laziness, and again many that were once good have become useless by warping. This to the native is of little account, as by rubbing fat into it and heating it he soon rectifies a bend. With knowledge one is usually able to tell from what part of Australia a boomerang has come. For instance, the following have more or less specialised types:—Lake Tyers, Corranderk, Murray River blacks, Western Australia, North-West and Katherine River, Cardwell blacks, and those in central parts, such as Arunta and Wonkongirru tribes. The description of tho different types and various methods employed in making a return boomerang may possibly be dealt with at some future period.