Aboriginal message sticks are a fascinating insight into a complex system of written communication

By Athena Lee, Lecturer and Researcher, Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research, Edith Cowan University

When we think of writing systems we likely think of an Alphabetic writing system, where each symbol (letter) in the alphabet represents a basic sound unit, such as a consonant or a vowel.

Those who first came to the shores of Australia during colonisation likely held a similar idea of written language. As such, Aboriginal peoples were quickly dismissed as lacking a written language.

But…

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