July 1, 1948. 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
Page Three 
schist, the weight of the specimen being 
of an ounce, the length 3 inches and the 
thickness ^ of an inch. It is incised with 
a criss-cross pattern of transverse and longi- 
tudinal markings, the reverse side being some- 
what similar. As will be observed from the 
drawings, there are perforations at both ends, 
one of which has broken. It may have been 
a body ornament, or a churinga, or perhaps 
an attachment to some ceremonial object. 
A NARROW TYPE OF POLISHED 
STONE AXE HEAD (Cover), from Wirre- 
alpa, the material being a dark green, prob- 
ably basic, igneous rock. It is 6^ inches 
long, weighs one pound nine ounces, is sym- 
metrical in shape, and a superior example 
of native workmanship. The cutting or 
working edge has been ground and polished 
to a perfect finish, and the base or head 
finally shaped by percussion (hammer) 
dressing, the pecked surface being plainly 
visible. 
The axe is grooved, thus making it more 
secure for fitting to the handle, which was 
usually a thin strip of green wood bent 
around the head, held in place by melted 
gum, and the two ends forming the handle 
brought together and fastened by means of 
human hair string or other form of lashing. 
A faintly defined second groove may be 
noticed below the main one. Some types had 
no mounting, being merely held in the hand 
when used. 
Polished stone axes were employed for 
various purposes, such as cutting out bark 
or wood required for food vessels, shields 
and canoes and making notches to assist in 
tree climbing. Such axe heads are unevenly 
distributed over numerous portions of Aus- 
tralia, whilst in some parts they are en- 
tirely absent. They were chiefly made from 
flakes struck off large blocks or derived 
from suitable water smoothed pebbles. There 
are many differences in shape, size and weight, 
whilst the technique of manufacture also 
varies. It is often practicable to determine 
with reasonable certainty the district of 
origin of many axes, remembering however, 
that this is not necessarily the actual place 
of finding, since being highly prized in locali- 
ties where suitable stone was not available, 
many travelled long distances by trade routes 
from their starting point. Natives in the 
Lake Eyre region are known to have buried 
their traded axes in the sand for safe keeping. 
Two distinct types may also be occasionally 
found overlapping in the same district, in 
which case they apparently arrived from out- 
side by different trade routes. Those in the 
South-East of this State, where they are 
comparatively plentiful, are believed to have 
come from the native quarry at Mount Wil- 
liam, in Western Victoria, which it has been 
recorded, remained under the control of one 
group or family for generations. The re- 
moval of hundreds of tons of stone by 
quarrying and its occasional pilfering by 
unauthorised natives testify to the import- 
ance of the industry at this locality. Other 
extensive deposits worked for axe heads, mill- 
stone slabs and implements occur in many 
parts of Australia. 
For a detailed account of axe heads 
see McCarthy (1946). 
CRUDE STONE AXE. A crude type of 
axe, roughly trimmed around the entire mar- 
gins on both faces, all surfaces having since 
become heavily patinated. It is difficult to 
determine whether it was originally mounted 
or employed as a hand axe. 
This specimen, which bears a strong re- 
sem lance to types which occur in Europe, 
was found on an eroded sand dune situated 
upon a hill-side of considerable elevation, 
overlooking the gorge of the Onkaparinga 
River, inland from Noarlunga. The site 
had previously yielded many implements 
typical of the district, and when re-visited 
subsequently to deep ploughing operations, 
undertaken to arrest further drift, the axe 
was discovered on the surface, together with 
several others of crude form. Length of 
figured specimen — 5 inches; weigh- — 9 \ 
ounces. 
ROCK CARVING. This is a photographic 
reproduction of a crudely executed rock carv- 
ing on a slab comprised of flaggy sandstone. 
The pattern, whilst ill defined and of inde- 
terminate design, is nevertheless of interest 
since the locality whence it was collected — 1 
mile north of Second Valley — is much fur- 
ther south than any other occurrence of rock 
carvings hitherto recorded in this State, 
amongst the nearest being those at Deep 
Creek, Burra. 
