BY FRITZ NOETLINIJ, M.A., PH.D. 65 



To US it seems unintelligible, why the Aborigines did not 

 fix a suitable' flake to a piece of wood, thus producing a 

 weapon far superior to the primitive wooden spear. Yet 

 this was apparently an invention the Tasmanian Aborigine 

 never made. Kis mind was just as unable to conceive 

 the idea of providing the wooden spear with a stone head, as 

 it was to chip the tero-na-watta on both faces, or to' provide 

 it with a handle, or to improve it by polishing the surface. 

 It is a common theory that primitive man used as his 

 earliest weapon a stick picked up by him during his wander- 

 ings through the primaeval forest. The anthropoid apes are 

 said to use a stick in self-defence. Now, there is no doubt 

 that such a stick is an efficient weapon only at close quar- 

 ters, unless, indeed, it is thrown at the aggressor. A modern 

 man armed with a stout stick would, if suddenly surprised, 

 await hisi enemy and attempt to' disable him by a hard blow. 

 Primosval man probably acted differently under similar cir- 

 ciunstances ; he threw the stick, at his aggressor, and run 

 away as quickly as he could. Speed of foot was still one of 

 his chief means of defence. It is more than probable tO' as- 

 sume that the primitive stick at first was simply hurled at 

 the aggressor, and it is also more than probable that a 

 methodical linear discharge of such a stick was a subsequent 

 invention. 



Now, if the Tasmanian Aborigines had neither weapons 

 made entirely of stone, nor used stone as a supplementary 

 material to give greater strength and efficiency to wooden 

 weapons, what kind of weapons did they use? Fortunately, 

 we are well informed on this point ; in fact, the information 

 is more complete than on many other features of their daily 

 life, yet the records are again silent on some important 

 points, as we shall presently see. 



Ling Roth (2) has carefully collected all the information 

 available, and the observations made by many explorers. 

 These accounts, th®ugh sohiewhat differing ih, detail, agree 

 in this that the Tasmanians possessed two kind of weapons : 

 a sho'rt stick and a much longer spear. Both weapons were 

 made solely of wood, and they were never provided with 

 stone heads. Now it mvist be of the greatest interest to' the 

 student of Archseolithic civilisation, to know whether the 

 accounts, as handed over to us, can be corroborated, by the 

 examination of actual specimens. Fortunately, the Hobart 

 Museu.m has among its greatest treasures 7 authenticated 

 spears and 3 short sticks. As these weapons have never 



(2) Aborigines of Tasmania, 2nd edit., pages 67-72. 



