Message stick

A message stick is a public communication device traditionally used by Indigenous Australians. Although styles vary, they are generally oblong lengths of wood with motifs engraved on all sides. Message sticks were carried by designated messengers across political borders to coordinate movements of people, request resources, issue demands, and negotiate alliances. Message sticks are non-restricted since they were intended to be seen by others, often from a distance. They are nonetheless frequently mistaken for tjurungas. The term 'message stick' is also sometimes applied to similar objects made by Indigenous people of North America, housed in the Peabody Museum Harvard and the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley. The term is also used to refer to a similar system of communication used by the Punan people of Borneo.