The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways on which the Museum stands. Image credit: gadigal yilimung shield made by Uncle Charles Chicka Madden.
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more. Skip to main content Skip to acknowledgement of country Skip to footer The boomerang is one of Australia's most unique and distinctive emblems. Find out about Boomerangs around the world Think of Australia and a boomerang may well come to mind as one of the country's most unique and distinctive emblems. Why a boomerang flies The vital boomerang attributes: convex top surface, distinctive curve, thin body and wide surface area are essential to the boomerang's aerodynamic properties.
Reinvigorating Wonnarua culture A collection of Aboriginal artefacts dating to the nineteenth century is a recent addition to the Museum's 'virtual' collections. The search for the hunting boomerang The good hunting boomerang was developed through brain-storming and experimentation, with prudent eyes seeking universality and balance.
The boomerang is curved to fly The technological secret of the boomerang is not its curve. The returning boomerang: how It flies Observing returning boomerangs in flight is to enjoy a fascinating phenomenon of physics.
You may also be interested in The Dreaming extends from the past into the present. In the Dreaming many significant features — rivers, rock formations and mountains — were created when Ancestors threw boomerangs and spears into the earth. For Aboriginal people the boomerang is as old as creation and a symbol of the enduring strength of Aboriginal culture.
With more than different language groups it is understandable that boomerang-making varies across the continent. Larger, heavier boomerangs are used by inland and desert people; lighter boomerangs are thrown by coastal and high-country people. The vast majority of boomerangs are of the non-returning variety. Carving and colouring of boomerangs differs across the continent; the styles of decoration are as varied as the individual makers. Boomerangs have many uses. They are weapons for hunting birds and game, such as emu, kangaroo and other marsupials.
The hunter can throw the boomerang directly at the animal or make it ricochet off the ground. In skilled hands, the boomerang is effective for hunting prey up to metres away. When hunting for birds, either returning or non-returning boomerangs can be used. A returning boomerang can be thrown above a flock of ducks to simulate a hovering hawk. The frightened birds then fly into nets set up in their flight path or, if they come within range, the hunters can use non-returning boomerangs to bring the birds down.
Boomerangs can be used to kill fish in areas of high tidal variation where fish are trapped in beach or rock pools. Designed to slice through water, these boomerangs are heavier and have none of the aerodynamic qualities of flying boomerangs.
Boomerangs are fighting weapons. Thrown at each other by combatants, medium-weight boomerangs are a deadly weapon, but for close quarter skirmishing, large boomerangs up to two metres tall can be used as fighting sticks.
Boomerangs can be used as a digging stick when foraging for root vegetables or for scraping ashes away from a fire. They can also be used to make fire; the sharp edge of a boomerang when rubbed along a softwood surface creates enough heat to generate a spark that can ignite grass.
Finally, boomerangs feature prominently in Aboriginal dance and music, as a percussion instrument when a pair are rattled together, and as an accessory to ceremonial dance. Australia was not the only place in the world where throwing sticks like the boomerang developed.
A 23,year-old mammoth tusk carved in a shape similar to the boomerang was discovered in Poland in This boomerang has great range, and can be thrown and caught from the same position. No chasing this one around!
My favorite boomerang by far! Cart 0. Menu Cart 0.
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